Heard of the Marwari who, in the good old days before Calcutta happened, fellinto a village well? Several passers-by rush to rescue him. "Lala, haath de,haath de," they beckon. But our man refuses all help. Finally, a wisened oldJat figures why. "Lala, haath le, haath le," he says. And up comes theMarwari.
Heard of the Mangalore crab exporter who kept sending his consignments inopen crates? Baffled but impressed, his French customer asks him what is thesecret of his confidence. "Simple," he says. "They are Indian crabs. Themoment one crab tries to jump out, the others pull him down."
Heard of the Gulf Air flight which was flying over famine-struck Ethiopia?The captain comes on the PA system and asks passengers to drop whatever theyhave in excess for the starving millions. The American chucks away a couple ofhamburgers. The Brit flings a few fishes. The Arab Sheikh grabs the Mallu nextto him and hurls him out—mundu and all.
Heard of the Sardarji who is called by nasa after all its efforts to launch arocket fail? Our man climbs up the tower, inspects the problem, comes down, andasks for the rocket to be tilted a little before launch. It works. The Yanks arepleased as punch. "How did you crack it, Mann?" "Simple, I ride a Vespascooter at home."
