The Minar Taj Account
By Jeff Gamble

Gary: One day, around lunch time, I figured I’d invite Jeff to lunch. Up to that point, we hadn’t really hung out or anything. I had my work and as far as I knew, he had his. And I’m not the kind of guy to go around getting in people’s business. Because when the tables are turned, I sure hate it when people are getting in mine. Jeff hadn’t grated on my nerves or done anything substantially irritating in the office though. So I figure, okay, let’s get something to eat. I questioned his stomach’s capacity to handle spicy food, but that was more his problem than mine. If he wanted to go with me, he’d have to go to Minar. My spot. And my spot could serve up some spicy Indian food.

Jeff: I knew Gary had frequently been going to lunch on his own. I kind of felt sorry for him because he was such a loner, without any friends. So when he asked me if I wanted to get lunch, I said sure because I figured it would be a good chance for him to interact with somebody new and maybe come out of his shell a little bit. It’s a pity any time a potentially good person can’t make friends just because they lack basic social skills. So he says he wants to go to this Indian joint where the food is spicy but good. Normally, I’d be game. But taking a chance on that kind of food during work has always been an avenue I’ve tried to avoid. What if it turns my stomach inside out? I hate crapping my pants at the office. There’s just too many stigmas attached. Gary needs a buddy though. So I say to myself, I’ll do it on his behalf.

Gary: So the next day, we go down to the spot, and I warn Jeff beforehand that this isn’t the fanciest place on the map. I mean, it’s like a dumpy little hole in the wall where the help treats the customers like crap. But the food is good - good enough to keep everyone coming back. Despite the fact that the attitude from the women on the other side of the counter is wicked though, I can take it. I’m a New Yorker, born and bred with thick skin. If someone dishes it out, they’re going to get it right back. Jeff though...I was concerned about him. He came across as one of those West Coast pretty boys. So I easily pictured him wilting under the harsh Minar experience. Again though, not my problem. With or without him, I would keep going.

Jeff: Gary had mentioned something to the effect that this Indian place of his didn’t have four-star atmosphere, but he didn’t dwell on it. So neither did I. I enjoy going to new places and then deciding for myself whether or not they’re worthwhile. Good food is good food, right? So we go down there and sure enough, this place is wretched. Health code violations all over the place. The tables are dirty, the tiles in the floor are coming up, and I see a crack in the sneeze guard separating us from the food. And not a hint of atmosphere anywhere. The orange plastic dining chairs looked as though they had been taken from a condemned high school, and the lighting was poorly provided by sporadic florescent fixtures, like the ones you might find in your grandfather’s work shed. I asked Gary if he ate in or took his food out and thankfully, he said he usually took the food back to the office.

Gary: I got in line and while I waited to order, I told Jeff that he should figure out what he wanted to eat beforehand. The women who work the counter don’t have much patience. But I don’t even know if he was listening. He seemed caught up in the filth. I knew the guy was a pussy! So I get up and order the usual - a vegetable lunch platter to go. The key is to make it simple. Sometimes I’ll throw in a curve ball and request different things, but that’s only when I’m up for a good confrontation. More often than not, it’s easier to just get in and get out. Jeff though, he didn’t know how it worked yet, and it cost him.

Jeff: Behind the glass was all this food, and I really couldn’t tell one thing from another. It all basically looked like different shades of brown shit you wouldn’t feel right feeding to your dog. When it was my turn to order, I started asking questions about what each thing was. This didn’t go over so well. The Indian woman holding the shit scooper behind the counter just stared at me without answering. “Just tell me what you want!” she yelled. How was I supposed to know what I wanted? That’s why I was asking questions! But she really wasn’t going to help me out. Another woman reluctantly pointed at a few troughs and identified them, but even then she only did so by using their Indian names. How the hell would you know what a ‘masala dosa’ was if you had never heard of one? So I just asked to have what Gary ordered - the vegetable lunch platter.

Gary: I’m waiting for Jeff outside on the sidewalk, and he doesn’t get out of the place for like five more minutes. When he finally does show, he looks so pissed that I just have to laugh. “What the hell’s the deal with that dump?!” he yells. “You like that place? It sucks! The women are bitches.” I just ignored him. He kept talking as we walked up the sidewalk, but as far as I was concerned, he was talking to himself. It was pretty funny to me. I knew he wouldn’t be talking smack after he ate. And you know what? I was right.

Jeff: I don’t know what that woman scooped into the that to-go box, and I’m not sure I even want to know. Because if it was dog shit, it was some pretty tasty dog shit, and I planned on going back for more. Gary was right, despite the whole dumpy venue and bitchy chicks thing, it was worth withstanding.

Gary: I’ll tell you what. That day - that first day - when we ate in the break room back at work, I could see that the guy was hooked. After acknowledging that he did in fact like the food, he barely said another word, let alone breathe. There he was, face down with his arm in constant motion, scooping out a fork full of food to his mouth, and then revolving it back down for more. Over and over. He looked like a cow, the way he was chewing. That’s when I knew he was hooked, right there and then. I didn’t know what his past was with addiction or anything like that, but I could see that he was hooked on Minar. I asked him what he thought and he was all, “It’s okay.” And when I asked him if he would go back, he was like, “Maybe.” But you could see he was downplaying it. Totally. Later on, it showed, too. We went back together a few times after that, you know, once or twice a week, and Jeff tried to play it casual. But then he started going every day. I’d show up at the office and it would smell like curry. But the guy never admitted to it, as if doing so was the equivalent to saying he had a problem. I’m like, “Come on, man. It’s just food. Just say you went and had some.” But he wouldn’t.

Jeff: I didn’t always eat with Gary because, like I said, he was reclusive. Loners are like that. So from time to time, when I felt like getting Minar, I’d just go down there by myself. What can I say, I liked the food. Nothing wrong with that, is there? Gary tried to corner me from time to time and get me to say I was addicted to it or something like that, but I mean come on. Addicted to a restaurant? Please.

Gary: One afternoon, I go down to Minar after running a few errands and there he is, sitting in the place. Actually sitting there! He’s got this plate of food he’s hovering over, and it looks like he’s laughing to himself. So I come up to the table and sit down...I figure startling the guy will really embarrass him. But he doesn’t even flinch. Barely bats an eye when he sees me. He motions for me to sit down and without so much as a pause, he starts telling me what I’ve missed. He’s like, “You gotta check these women out, Gary. They’re going off today! It’s classic!” I say, “Are you out of your mind? What are doing sitting and watching them for?” He doesn’t answer. He looks past me and just starts laughing again. So I turn to look, and sure enough, these chicks were letting people have it. I hear one woman in line yell, “You can’t speak to me like that!” and then the girl behind the counter snaps back, “Go now! You go now!” So the woman storms out. It was pretty funny. It actually was. But on the flip side, here was Jeff: In a matter of weeks he had gone from being completely repulsed by this place to being it’s number one customer. Something about that seemed kinda messed up. We had come a long way from the first day, when he was crying about the squalor of the whole operation. I liked the food there - don’t get me wrong - but going there to watch the people work...well...tell me that’s not abnormal.

Jeff: Somewhere along the way, Gary stopped understanding what Minar was all about. I was learning, and he fell off somewhere. He failed to grasp what it was that he had introduced me to. Yeah, it was just lunch and yeah, it was just a restaurant, but still...this was great stuff. The food...I mean the food was great, but there was so much more to it than that. And I think that’s where Gary stopped understanding the vastness of the place. He didn’t see all that was involved. There was food, sure, but then there were also lessons about life, and the beauty of human interaction being performed on various levels.

Gary: After I found him laughing to himself that day, I’d have to say that Jeff’s mental health started doing a nose dive. He began singing the words “Minar Taj” at work, kind of doing this little dance with finger snaps and hand claps. Then he would give me reports on what the women behind the counter were doing and saying. He was obsessed! He’d say, “Oh Gary, today you should have seen that girl with the nose ring and the bad hair dye! She was ruthless! I smiled and asked how she was doing and she moved on to the next person without even so much as acknowledging me! Hilarious!”

Nakshatra: I remember him. He came in nearly every day. There were lots of people who did. But this man would not just take food and go, or sit down. All the time, he would ask how I was, or how Meghana was. At lunch, there is no time for talking. Many people come in, and many people need help. We do not run a social service - we run a restaurant. If you want to talk, bring a friend to talk to. My job is to serve lunch, not tell you about my life.

Gary: I say, “Can’t you just get your food and go?” This upsets him. He says I have no idea what I’m talking about. I’m like, “Listen, the last time I was in there, I asked for my plate without rice and they just about had me thrown out!” I mean, it wasn’t like I was asking for somebody to go out of their way and prepare a new meal, I just wanted my stuff without rice. But no. Jeff’s like, “I’m going to learn their names, Gary. I think they like me, even though they don’t act like it.”

Nakshatra: Of all the customers I remember, he was the most annoying. When I saw him come in the door, I wanted to leave so that I did not have to make a plate for him. With him it was always questions. “How are you? Did you do something to your hair? How do you like the United States?” Always questions. Every day I do not answer. I say, “Tell me what you want.” But he doesn’t listen. He just holds up the line and makes everyone mad. Meghana was kinder, but she felt more sorry for him. She thought he might be sick in his mind. I said to her, “If he is sick, then let him go to a doctor and not to us.”

Gary: After a while, maybe after the first month or so, I stopped going with Jeff to Minar. It was just too much. I’d still go, but I just couldn’t do it with him. If I did, I’d just get treated extra poorly by association. So I stealthily took lunch at random times, ducking out whenever and wherever I could. If Jeff asked me to go, I always made up some excuse. “Gotta lot of work to do,” I’d say. Or some BS like that. It sounds cruel, but you have to understand the circumstances. The guy had gone over the deep end, and part of me felt a little responsible. But what was I going to do, tell somebody? “Listen, Jeff has lost his mind over an Indian spot where he gets his lunch.” It just sounded too weird. And it was.

Jeff: Gary stopped going with me. But it was okay, because it really wasn’t about him. It was about good food and interesting people. And the more I went, the more I learned about the two. I learned that you don’t necessarily have to be able to identify a food to enjoy it, and I learned that it’s possible to like people who don’t always treat you very well. It was definitely a time of growth for me. I was expanding my mind. I stayed positive through it all, too. Somebody else might have said, “No, I can’t take it.” But I recognized the good that was coming out of it. And as with most things, eventually my perseverance began to pay off. The women at the restaurant started treating me better. Soon they stopped refusing to serve me, and once in a while they even responded to my questions. “How are you today?” I would ask. I always asked the girl with the bad blonde streaks in her hair this. And she started telling me how she was. I’m sure that deep down, they were all really friendly people who were just frazzled by the hectic lunch hour. They just weren’t used to a guy like me...someone who was willing to share.

Nakshatra: I did not like this man who asked the questions. I grew tired of seeing his face. “How are you? How are you? How are you?” Never it ends. Even my name he asks, but that I will not tell. I am afraid he will follow me home and try to kill me. One such afternoon, after he asks my name I stare at him. “Then at least tell me how you are doing.” he says to me. The line is long and I have no more patience. “Okay,” I say to him, “tell me your order now.”

Gary: Jeff comes in after lunch one afternoon and he’s all excited. He claims that he’s made a breakthrough. I have no idea what he’s talking about. Of course I should have known. “They’re talking to me!” he says. “They’re responding to me!” So I ask if he learned their names, but he says no. “They won’t tell me their names, but the girl with the blonde hair and nose ring told me she was doing ‘okay’ when I asked!” Now, you could walk up to any motherfucker on the street - even here in New York - and ask how their doing and they’d probably tell you. Would it be something to run and tell a friend about? I doubt it. So you can imagine how concerned I was about Jeff at this point. I say, “Jeff, that’s not a breakthrough, that’s called getting dissed.” I don’t think it was too long after this that the train incident happened.

Jeff: The meeting on the train was the real turning point though.

Gary: When I heard about this one, I was actually scared to hear the outcome.

Nakshatra: I hate thinking about it. When I saw him, my heart began to beat very fast. I thought to myself that he had found me, and that he was following me. I feared that I would die - that he would tie me up inside my home and kill me. I sat very still and hoped he would not see me. He was sitting down on the car some ways and across on the other side. Quickly I took a napkin out of my purse and began to write a note. I wrote that if I were to die, my parents were to be notified in India. I left the address. I also willed my dog to my sister who lives in New Jersey.

Jeff: I don’t know, I was just riding the train home...I look down and, bang! There she is - the girl from Minar Taj! The one who had been softened up a bit. So I thought, “Okay, this is a great opportunity to really break down some barriers - to really get to know her.” She’s sitting down a bit on the same car...I think she was writing or something. Anyway, after thinking about what I want to say, I get up and walk over to her. It was kind of exciting. I didn’t know how I would be received. She had treated me pretty poorly in the restaurant, but then again, maybe it was the environment. Either way, I was willing to roll the dice. So I get up and start walking down...

Nakshatra: Then I see him get up and start walking over towards me. The seat next to mine was open, so I quickly moved my bag over it to keep him from sitting down. I was very scared. My only comfort was knowing that other people were on the train and that he could not kill me without them being able to see.

Jeff: ...and when I get to her spot, I see that the seat next to her is open. As I’m about to ask if it’s taken, she moves her bag there. So I’m thinking to myself, “Okay, this is going to be a little tougher than I figured.” But I’m still game. So I say, “Hey there, how are you?” She looks up, and for a moment - as our eyes met - a dark chill made the hair on my neck stand on end. It was strange. I didn’t know how to react. She had this wild look. I’ve seen a few girls before and I’ve even been in love a couple times, but this numbness! This electricity! What was it?! I didn’t know. I couldn’t tell if we were falling for each other right there or what. But it was hardcore. Something was there and I couldn’t explain it.

Nakshatra: When he approached to speak to me, I shot hatred at him with my eyes. I could think of no other way to defend myself. Once again it’s, “How are you?” Just hearing the question made the hair on my neck stand up on its end. So many times I have heard that question from him. It was a natural reaction to shoot menacing anger into his heart with my eyes. I said nothing, only did I look at him.

Jeff: It was truly beyond words. So...I don’t remember exactly what I said after that. I asked her a few questions...you know...trying to make small talk. I couldn’t find an appropriate ice-breaker though. I think she was shy. Truth is, there were a lot of people on the train and it really isn’t the greatest place on earth to get to know somebody anyway. So I understood where she was coming from. I just stood there through a few more stops and we just enjoyed the silence of each other’s company.

Nakshatra: He would not go away, and I was sure he was waiting for me to get off the train so he could follow me. I could not take it. I had to get away...I needed to leave there. When I thought this, we were at Woodhaven. I decided I would get off at the next stop - 63rd Drive. From there I was going to wait for the next train and continue to my stop. Hopefully I would be safe.

Jeff: It just goes to show just how massive the city is. Here I had been riding the train at least twice a day for three years or so, and never had I noticed this woman from Minar. But then one day, there she is...and on top of it, she gets on and off at the same stop as me! Incredible! The doors slide open at 63rd Drive, and just like that she gets off. At this point I’m thinking, well, it might be destiny.

Nakshatra: I could feel my heart beating out of my chest. There was no air to breathe. He followed me onto the platform and I didn’t know where to go. I started walking towards the exit so I could locate a phone. Then he came up to me and before I could do anything else, he walked up beside me and began speaking to me once again. Panic was in my blood. So I yell...I tell him to leave, to not follow me. I tell him I never want him to come back to my restaurant also. That night, I did not sleep.

Jeff: Emotions ran high, and I understood her need for a little space. It was a crazy time. Heck, I needed to clear my head too. So much had been happening in those few weeks. So I walked away. I walked away and told myself that everything would be all right. And why not? In the heat of the moment, people are capable of saying anything. They don’t always mean it, but that’s emotion for you. Crazy, crazy stuff.

Gary: Man, when Jeff told me the whole story, I knew right away that the stupid mother fucker had no clue to what was going on. I said, “You’ve got that woman scared.” But he insisted I was wrong. “You weren’t there!” he said. “How could you know?” But I knew. I had already seen and heard enough before. He was lost in some little pipe dream and the only person who didn’t see it was him. So I told him to just chill out and take a break from Minar. It was in everybody’s best interest. He agreed with me and said he would do it, but I had good reason to be skeptical. You know what I’m saying? The guy had a problem, and when somebody’s got a problem, it’s easier said than done to make things right.

Jeff: Gary had a point, so I listened to what he was telling me. And after that, I went cold turkey. No more Minar. It wasn’t easy, but I did it. Lunch became more and more interesting because of it, too. I tried other things and even hit a couple other Indian spots, but it wasn’t the same. I missed that unidentifiable brown shit that was Minar Taj. I missed the chairs, the tables, the lighting, the cracks in the sneeze guards - all of it. Most of all though, I missed the girls who worked there. After the train episode, I mulled the incident over and over in my mind until it began to eat away at me. I didn’t mean to scare her, but Gary had convinced me that I had. Who was I kidding? He was right. But my intentions were never bad, they were always good. Things just went wrong somewhere. Something had happened. I was blinded by the experience and I lost the edge. I wanted to make amends though. I had to set things straight. Even if they kicked me out at the door, I felt as though I needed to go back and explain myself. Then at least I could say that I tried. I couldn’t live with myself otherwise.

Gary: I didn’t like the idea. It sounded like a recipe for disaster. And I said it - straight up. But Jeff wouldn’t it go. He went on and on about how he wanted to make up for any wrong doing he might have caused. We went back and forth on it for a while. Soon I just had to give him my blessing though. He wasn’t going to back down. So I said that if he was going to go, I had to be there with him. I would step in if things went awry. And I made him agree...if I decided to pull the plug, he had to walk away. We shook on it. It was a deal.

Nakshatra: I saw him walk in right from the door. I felt ill in the morning and almost stayed home. But there was no one, so I need to be at work. That is what I think first when he comes in - that I should have stayed home. But now he is here and I am here, too. I thought he may never come back, but it did not surprise me when he appeared. Quickly I thought of moving to the kitchen, but I did not. Meghana saw him and pointed, but I ignored her. He got in line with his friend who I also do not like. This insult I could not take. I yell out, “You go now! Do not come in here!” They two look at each other and then he walks over to me. I was scared, almost like the train. He starts talking and says...

Jeff: I walk over to her and I say, “Listen, I don’t know who you are and you don’t know me. I’m just a customer, and that’s the way it can stay. I’m not trying to scare you or hurt anyone. I just like eating here. I also think it would be nice if - because I’m a regular - we could treat each other with a little kindness and respect. That’s all I want. So when I ask for your name, you don’t have to give it to me, but understand that my intent is not to terrorize.”

Nakshatra: I felt bad suddenly. I had acted very poorly and only now did I see it. I still did not like him, because he was sick in his mind. But there was no reason to not sell him lunch. As long as he just bought lunch, it was okay. So I tell him, “Okay, you may eat lunch here, but no questions. I will answer no questions.” He still wants to know my name though. I tell him, “No questions!” This makes him quiet. His friend too. They order and I feel sorry for them because I begin to think that they may go to a special school for people that are not smart. So I say to him, “You would like some bread, maybe?” It is my offer to him because I feel bad.

Jeff: I couldn’t believe it. She asks, “Would you like some bread, baby?” She actually called me ‘baby!’ I knew there was something there! I asked Gary if he had also heard it.

Gary: That’s when I pulled the plug.

- August, 1999