His silence taught me a crucial lesson
He must have had that nice window seat all the way from London. An Indian, he looked under 40, medium height, slim and wore a blazer. When I boarded the Emirates flight in Dubai—it was October 2003—I got an aisle seat next to him. I looked at him and tried to smile as I sat down. But there was a blank, distant look that made me stop mid-smile. One of those, I thought.
Each time I take a flight, I try to chat with a fellow passenger. Most people are responsive when they’re alone at 40,000 feet. Only when it’s one of those few, who barely even nod, do I keep to myself. So flying has helped me get to know perfect strangers. To a journalist, this could be the seed of an unexpected story or simply a chance to hear something different. In any case, with good company up there, time flies too. In recent times I’ve flown seated next to, among others, a young agricultural banker and a financial consultant. I’ve had conversations with a German medical engineer who holds patents on heart transplants, an event manager from Paris, a Mumbai grandmother on vacation.
This story is from the March 2018 edition of Reader's Digest India.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the March 2018 edition of Reader's Digest India.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
THE UNBELIEVABLE MR RIPLEY
The creator of Believe It or Not had an insatiable curiosity about strange and astonishing facts
HE OPENED UP THE ARC TIC
\"You don't just sit and wait for adventure to come,\" famed polar explorer Knud Rasmussen liked to explain.\"You go out and make it happen!\"
Discovering Babasaheb
This Dalit history month—which also marks the 134\" birth anniversary of Dr B. R. Ambedkar, we recount four momentous incidents from his life
Lion in the Living Room
Five decades after two young men brought a playful cub into their London home, the tale has touched a whole new generation
The Many Roles of SUNIL DUTT
Through many personal tragedies, this favourite matinee idol finds strength and solace in helping others
AGATHA CHRISTIE MURDER BY THE BOOK
More widely read than any other English writer, she baffled the world with masterly tales of murder and remained something of a mystery herself
THE DAY WE MADE Flying History
Ona sunny September day in 1913, the author set three world records ina homemade flying machine
THE COMMANDO WITH THE TATTOO
Ganesh Dhangde was just six years old when he got lost. Twenty years later, his mother had a visitor
MARILYN: HER MAGIC LINGERS ON
The real Marilyn Monroe was nobody you'd look at twice—unless she wanted you to
I Think, Therefore, I Spam...
...has become the way forward for too many e-mail pests. Here's how I deal with them every single day
