Oh, Mister David
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After visiting the BODY WORLDS facility in Heidelberg the year before, a few of the more attractive people, like me, were invited back.
Read more about BodyWorlds here
Unlike the first trip, we didn't all travel together, maybe there were budget concerns. We stayed at a budget tourist hotel, and our flights were definitely booked with budget in mind, but neither the hotel nor flight were inferior.
I flew over on Air India. Next to me was an Indian man who flew a lot as he was a businessman. The Indian caste system was there for me to witness first hand. The pilots and cabin crew were definitely of higher caste. All the flight attendants were high caste and very attractive.
My companion was of lower caste. The ugly caste dynamic showed because he did not ask for extras or services. When meal time came both the attendant and my row mate were impressed that I didn’t order the European meal, but ordered the Muslim meal. They didn’t ask him what he wanted. He would have liked the Hindu meal, but they just brought him the Muslim.
I was at the window seat with a seat between me and the Indian businessman, we talked a little, but there was no real conversation. There were Bollywood shows and movies to see, I had something to read, I was fine.
The poor man started nodding off and was uncomfortable. I asked for a pillow and showed him how to lift the armrest and use the pillow for a comfortable way to rest his head and take a nap.
When the flight attendants came along and asked if we would like something to drink, we did, and the man put down his tray table, and since he was a bit portly, such as I, there wasn’t a lot of room between himself and the table. Lowering the tray table for the seat between us, we could put our drinks on that table and not bother with our own, and have more room.
The man looked at me and said, "Oh, Mr. David, you are a man who knows how to travel in comfort."
@. Two more tales of Indian travel mates on pages