The Eagle and "him"

It was around lunch time and I was on a call with a business user. Suddenly a shadow loomed over me and cast its dark shadows on my computer screen. I turned around. It was Chunnu and he was blabbering something. I finished my call and kept the phone. When I turned to face Chunnu again, he was writing something on a sticky note.
It read - "The Eagle and Me".
I wondered was it a new book he is trying to tell me about or did he have some dream about his earlier birth :-D

I gave a quizzical look to Chunnu and he beamingly said -

"The Eagle and Me are alike. The Eagle watches it prey from very far off and then swoops down and catches it prey. I'm also like the eagle, give me 7 days, I'll show you my prey".

7 days to see the prey? What was that?

"Menda.. guess what is the prey"....


hmmm.. what can you get in 7 days and what could be a prey for Chunnu?

"Some software"? "Sony Product"? "His girlfriend is coming to USA"?

All answers were turned down and he said -

"Come to my place, I will show it to you on the internet".

I asked him - "Show me here". He replied - "Its a one time webpage. I cant show it you".
I asked again - "Did you purchase tickets to Hawaii?" .. Answer was the same - "No. Go to www.americanexpress.com".

I had forgotten that his dream was to be a proud owner of an American Express Credit Card. "You got an Amex Card?". And he beamed again -

"At last... after 3 rejections, I was like the eagle, I did not lose track of my prey. I got it at
last. I applied for Blue Cash with a balance transfer and it got APPROVED !!!! and I am getting 3% cash back I think."

I replied - "3%? Blue cash is 5% buddy!!.. You have applied for something else." Chunnu got confused and he ran to his computer. After 20 minutes he came back with a sad look on his face. I enquired what happened. And then he related his sorrow.

"I checked and it was not Blue Cash, but I was approved for Amex Blue. So I called up Customer Service and asked them to take a new application for Blue Cash. They told me that I can apply for either one and they would have to cancel Amex Blue if I wanted Blue Cash. So I agreed for cancelling Amex Blue and applied for Blue Cash. But Now the application got Rejected!!!!!"

I could not help but burst into non-stop laughter..and I asked what happened to the Eagle? He replied -

"I guess the eagle has to wait for the prey for some more time".

A Day at India House!

It was one of those days when you don’t want to cook so that you can eat, particularly on a Saturday afternoon. I guess there were 3 more guys like me who shared my opinion because of which we found the 4 of us on the way to one of the not-so-abundantly-found-in-salt-lake Indian restaurants – “the India House”. It was close to 3pm well past beyond lunch hour and just about time for dinner in about an hour.

The four of us, Chaman, Munnu and Pappu walked into the restaurant with yours sincerely in the lead. The entire place was deserted except for the chairs and tables, and we were shown into a 2x2 booth.
Our server was a guy from our very own Pappu’s land – Punjab. Lets call him Santa singh for now… He was sporting a turban with a beard that was trimmed almost daily I guess.
So as it happened, while we were browsing through the menu and water was being served, Pappu saw something stains on the cutlery, so he asked Santa Singh to replace the spoon. Santa Singh stopped for a moment, took the spoon in his hand and brought it near so that he can take a close look. The way he was looking at it, I swear I felt that he had a microscope hidden in one of his eyes. And then he spoke –

“Its nothing, its just a drying mark after it has been through dishwasher”.

And he returned the spoon back, spun around and was going back to the kitchen.
Pappu spoke

“Hullo! I want you to change it.. I don’t care if it’s a mark”.

Santa Singh mumbling curses under his breath exchanged the spoon from another table (he kept that spoon on the other table !!! )

And the he mumbled to us -

"I always like when Americans come here, they don’t make me work so much and neither do they crib about spoons. Its only our desis who behave like this and make me run around. "

We were all eating there, dumbstruck that he actually said that. Welcome to Salt Lake City’s Indian Restaurants.