Goma Suri – What Is It and Why We Should Avoid It?

“They are Goma suri!” whispered my Japanese friend into my ear, making a curious motion with his hands, like rotating his closed hand on the palm of the other hand.

“What?” I couldn’t quite grasp what he meant. Though I knew some Japanese, it was just enough to get by in casual conversations. He mentioned it on our way back from visiting a spinning mill, and I was intrigued.

When we visited that spinning mill, a big crowd was waiting for us to welcome us. Two ladies handed us the flower bouquets, and the mill owner garlanded my Japanese friend. The clicking of camera phones was relentless. It was quite a spectacle, something like a red-carpet event—minus the actual carpet.

Of course, it was a warm and great reception normally anybody would like to have.

We were given the VIP tour by the owner himself. He enthusiastically described their processes and the extraordinary measures they took to ensure Japanese quality. I followed, nodding politely while sneaking peeks at the machinery and the bustling workers.

The mill was pretty modern. Almost everything, except the blowroom, was under one roof. I could see a team working feverishly to clean up the next department before our arrival, like a cleanup squad before a royal visit.

My Japanese friend, being meticulous about contamination, queried about their cotton cleaning practices.

“Our people are always on-site at the cotton fields and ginning stations to ensure no contamination. Additionally, we engage one worker per bale of cotton to manually pick out any contamination. I will reduce this to 90 kg per worker for the yarns meant for you. And I assure you, we don’t include this additional cost in the yarn price.” the owner boasted, turning to other staff who unanimously nodded their heads.

“Can we see this process?” my friend asked. We were led to the contamination-picking room, where ten tables stood in a row but were conspicuously empty. For me, the setup seemed somehow like a makeshift one.

“The day shift just ended, and we don’t engage workers in the second shift as their efficiency drops,” the owner explained, signaling someone to turn on the lights.

“The opened cotton is fed to each table, and the picker removes the contaminations. The cleaned cotton is placed in these bamboo baskets and mixed in the blowroom. We use two contamination sorters in tandem.”

We moved closer to inspect the sorting machine.

“Do they have PP clearers?” my friend inquired.

“Absolutely! Ours are the latest and greatest in India. We even collaborated with the machinery makers to fine-tune them for Japanese standards,” the owner explained with evident pride.

As the tour continued, we were informed about their unique “achievements” in each department.

At the cotton godown: “As soon as the season opens, we buy the best cotton upfront suitable for yarns for the Japanese market. To be honest, the cotton that other mills buy is what we reject!”

At the comber: “This comber was developed thanks to our invaluable feedback to the machinery manufacturer.”

At spinning: “Here is the only place where the cotton is touched by human hands, one during creeling the roving bobbin, and another during mending a cop.”

At winding: “This splicer that we have makes splices with a strength more than that of parent yarn and improves the overall strength of yarn! Our customers say they have almost zero breaks in their process”

At the meeting hall: “We know how critical quality is for you, the Japanese, and we’ve tailored our processes to meet your exacting standards.”

My Japanese friend acknowledged their efforts, and the owner requested an order for at least one 20-foot container. My friend just smiled.

After some more pleasantries about Japanese markets and trends, we bid farewell and returned to our car.

“What’s your take on the mill?” my friend asked.

“It seems okay, probably one of the best here,” I replied.

But his verdict was summed up in one word: “Goma suri.”

Curious, I asked him for the translation, but he struggled to find the right words in English. So, I turned to my AI assistant, who decoded it for me.

“Your friend is talking about ‘goma wo suru.’ It means ‘grind sesame seeds,’ but figuratively, it means ‘to be a sycophant’ or ‘butter up.’ The origin lies in ground sesame seeds being sticky, much like sycophants who stick to important people acting excessively obedient or attentive towards someone important, often to gain favour or advantage. They are known for flattering and fawning over influential people, sometimes insincerely”

I thanked my AI assistant for the enlightenment.

Long story short, my friend dismissed the mill and placed the order with another mill which we visited lately. The second mill showed us genuine integrity and did not butter up us.

Whether it’s a mill or an office, there’s always at least one person playing the role of a sycophant. While such individuals might advance temporarily, finally, they rarely succeed in their lives.

So, the verdict is DON’T GOMA O SURU!

(Article by Murugan Santhanam. He is the Managing Director of Texdoc Online Solution Pvt. Ltd.)