So this morning, an American colleague of mine circulated this email joke where a Canadian farmer, an American engineer and Osama Bin Laden are hanging out and they find a bottle containing a genie. So they each get a wish and the Canadian asks for fertile soil for Canada and Bin Laden asks for a giant wall to be built around Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq and Iran to keep the infidels out and the American engineer asks for this giant wall to be filled with water.
So I replied to this email saying, good job American engineer, you just solved India's perpetual drought problem.
The colleague replied back saying, but Bin Laden didn't include India because he hates India too.
It was then that I realized that my colleague was probably unaware that India and Pakistan were neighbours. So I replied back, saying yes, Bin Laden hated India, but he did create a giant swimming pool adjacent to India.
American colleague replied, so what are you saying, Bin Laden's a good person?
Good God, no, I replied, I was merely pointing out that India would be in a great position to take advantage of the giant body of water created by Bin Laden's walling off plan due to its geographical proximity to the nations being walled off and that the real credit for creating this water reservoir would still lie with the the American engineer whose ingenuity, if I remembered correctly, I had already complimented earlier in the email conversation.
Oh, he replied.
And that, fortunately, was that.
15 comments:
you have too much idle time at work!!!!
S
This exchange reminded me of Colbert Dinesh D'Souza's interaction.
Good thing he finally got what you meant!
gg
Ive been in situations like these so v often that i think hard b4 i speak/joke with ppl now or atleast get ready and make up my mind to put up with sheer stupidity after ive done that, specially at the office...Americans will consider and leave the matter at thats that fortunately :D but Mallus wont...and i hate mallus coz of this... :S
By Mallus I mean Malyalees... communication murderers i call em :D
Was the American engineer working on a H1B???
If so, was thinking this story would beat even Swades...this dude solved India's problem without even relocating!
I'm embarrassed for this colleague of yours, because I know just what it's like to be in his shoes. At a Christmas party a couple of months back, I said to a Slovenian guy, "So, hang on, Slovenia somewhere near... Lithuania, right?" The man fixed me with such a glare...
I do think India is in a different league from all those pesky little eastern (or almost-eastern) European countries, but perhaps I only think that because I'm *from* India?
The seemingly blissful ignorance of many Americans never ceases to amaze me, and I'm American!
or is it that India is insignificant to America?
Is India somewhere near Philly? If it is, then that's pretty funny stuff.
gosh! is this real?
sounds like straight out of a book/movie but then aint truth stranger than fiction n all that sort of thing...
lol
there was this girl who once asked me if india was in pakistan.
how are you popatlal? long time no talk.
ha, how true :) I dont think learning would do the trick :)
-Vaishnavi
That's nothing! I keep forgetting where my office is and have to shift my job every week. And they think I am a job hopper!
Hilarious!
Post a Comment