Saved by the head steward

In executive class the seats recline so far back; it is not like economy class where the seats go back two inches. An elderly man, bald-headed like me, was sitting right in front of the Gujrati lady. He pressed the button and went back, leaving a very small gap between his seat and this lady. She also could have reclined her seat in the same way; everybody can do it.

The man was near me, so I could easily see him. He fell asleep in five minutes, and he started snoring very loudly, perhaps deliberately — God knows! The lady began shaking his seat, and then afterwards she started shaking his shoulder, saying, “Stop snoring!” I was sure that he was ignoring her; otherwise, the way she was shaking his shoulder, he would have been furious. But he stayed fast asleep.

Again she called the stewardess. This time her complaint was, “He is snoring! He is making so much noise and not allowing me to sleep.”

I buried my head in my palms and said, “O God, what am I going to do?” There was no seat empty.

Then a man came to me and said he was the head of the stewards. He asked, “How do you pronounce your name? Do you say Ghosé or Ghose?”

I said, “My name is Ghose, not Ghosé.”

He pulled me by the left shoulder and whispered, “Are you comfortable?”

Very quietly I told him, “She is torturing me.” He said, “Let me go downstairs.” Downstairs also there was executive class. He came back and said, “There are three seats empty. Where is your bag?”

He carried my small bag and took me downstairs. Then I got excellent treatment. Three seats were empty and nobody was there to bother me. Behind the seat of the person in front of you there is a television screen. You just pull it out and you can watch whatever is on the big screen. And the seats are so comfortable. So I was the happiest person, and I was far, far away from that crazy lady!