Sitting in a cloud of smoke

I entered into the plane. I was so happy that at long last my problems were over. I showed my boarding pass to the steward. My seat number was 14B. This steward was so careless and callous. Instead of 14B, he pointed out to me 14E. I did not say anything. Perhaps he had his own reasons. I sat there. Soon afterwards, somebody came and told me that it was his seat number. He said, “Yours must be 14B.”

I explained, “The steward asked me to sit here.”

Then I took my bag and moved to 14B. I said, “Even here I have to get wrong information? This is too much.”

I was seated on the aisle and next to me, on my left, was a very fat man, but there was plenty of space so it was no problem. Across the aisle, on my right, there were three seats. In the first was a businessman with lots of papers, and next to him was the young man who found that I had made a mistake.

The pilot made an announcement: “We shall deeply appreciate it if you do not smoke.” When I was given my seat, I had no choice as to whether I was in a smoking or non-smoking area. At that time I did not care, as long as I was finally inside the plane. Now I discovered that smoking is allowed in executive class.

The pilot himself made the announcement requesting people not to smoke, although it was not forbidden. Then the man who was on my right side started smoking. The plane had not taken off yet. Luckily, the smoke was not coming towards me. Suddenly, the young man to the right of the businessman stood up and said to him, “The hell with you.” The businessman smiled at him. Then the young man left and went to the economy section. He had bought a ticket for executive class, but he went to the economy section to find a non-smoking place. He did not come back.

I counted six cigarettes. One after the other the businessman was smoking, and he did not know how to stop. Still, the plane had not yet started. There was a very nice-looking man who was sitting next to the one who had left. This second innocent man also stood up to find a place in the economy section, but nothing was there. He was so miserable. He had to come back and sit near the big business executive.

I said to myself, “God has saved me.” But God does not know how to save me. At intervals of fifteen or twenty minutes, the businessman would get the inspiration to turn towards me and blow his smoke in my direction. Usually he would blow his smoke on the right side, but sometimes he was relaxed and he would get the inspiration to smoke turning in the other direction. I was so disappointed. The man who sat on my left side became furious, but what could he do? Both of us were suffering like anything.

So many people were suffering because of this man who would not stop smoking. And this particular flight lasted seven hours and forty minutes.

From:Sri Chinmoy,My express visit to India, Agni Press, 1995
Sourced from https://srichinmoylibrary.com/evi