The other day, as I got into the aircraft on a flight from Delhi to Mumbai, realising that I was in the first row and thus couldn’t put my laptop bag under the seat in front of me, I opened the overhead luggage compartment, put the bag there, and sat down on my aisle seat as my fellow passengers streamed in. When on a flight, this is my usual entertainment, watching the variety and range of passengers one gets to see. Suddenly a teenager-looking girl, dressed in salwar-churidar, appeared at the aisle, expectantly waiting for me to get up so that she could move to the seat to my left. I smiled and stood, and she passed through, sat in the seat next to me, and put her carry-bag on the floor in front of her.