The smart thing vs the right thing

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. 

“Thanks for the offer, uncle, I prefer to keep my bag in front of me on the floor,” she said. The “uncle” bit is something I hear often when young people talk to me, thanks to my head full of grey hair.