Day 5: Road to India (Somewhere over the Atlantic) Part 1

November 16 & 17, 2009

I attempted to sleep once more but became alerted by the considerable fidgeting of seatmate to the left. I was present to my irritation several times during the whole ordeal and before I gave her the international “you’re disturbing me” expression complete with a deep sigh, I said yet another prayer. “God please forgive me for my unwillingness to embrace this moment. Please grace me with compassion and patience and help me to see what this telling me about myself. I trust that everything that shows up on this journey is for my expansion. I choose to fully embrace this moment. I pray that I will soften and be of service to this beautiful expression of God that has appeared to the left of me. Amen”

I completed my prayer and looked over at her with a “How can I help you?” expression to discover that she become trapped in her aisle seat. The opening had become too small for her frame, especially with the passenger seat in front of her fully reclined. She was sweating and only ensnared herself even worse by her intense struggle. It reminded me of a recent wildlife program, which showed the dramatic rescue of a helpless polar bear cub that had gotten snared by a trap. It too fought hard to free itself only to increase the chance for injury. “I must do something! I can’t let this innocent creature suffer for one more minute.”

Knowing that aisle seat armrests are suppose to lift up, I got on my knees in my seat and lean into her round mass to locate the release button to free her. She somehow realized I was attempting to her, yet she continued to struggle. The commotion finally alerted our cabin steward and he too attempted to release the armrest without success. He reached for her to take his hands so that he could free her, but she pulled away from him lifting her arms as if she was protecting herself from a blow. How is it that any transatlantic flight attendant is unaware of the cultures they serve? When he became frustrated by her refusal to accept his assistance, I said, “She can’t touch you! Her culture prohibits a woman being touched by any other male, like a husband or son. The man in front of her woke and straightened his chair as her mass exploded into the aisle. We had drawn many onlookersduring this melodrama, which all breathed a sign of relief as she was freed, much like I did as I saw the small cub running across the ice to its mother after being freed by a few brave human beings.

Buddha-lady went to the restroom and I took the opportunity too or I’d have to crawl over Mooshi, her mother and another passenger to exit right, if I should have to use the facilities later. While in the galley I asked to be moved to an open aisle seat to prevent another entrapment. The flight attendant said. “Look around, there are no aisle seats available.” I took the long way back to my seat in hopes of finding an open seat. I did. It was an aisle seat several rows in front of ours. I asked the handsome longhaired European man, who witnessed the recent commotion, if the seat next to was vacant. The tray table was down holding an uncollected dinner tray so I wasn’t sure. He looked at me with such disgust you’d think I asked him to hold a fresh bag of pooh. I told him it would be me sitting next to him since it would be difficult for me to get in and out of my seat should I need. He softened and agreed. I was thinking how nice it would be to sit next to such a hottie and what amazing conversation we might have. But before I could collect my belongings, the flight attendant was already moving Buddha-lady into the vacant seat I had found. He had come behind me to ensure that the armrest would release. So instead of my belongings, I picked up her shoes from the floor with my left hand (very important that left hand is used for unclean things in her region of the world) and brought them to her when she went into a series of bows as if she was having a “darshana” (Sanskrit for seeing an avatar or holy person). She thanked me, but Mister European-Calvin-Klein-model just glared at me as though I set him up. I went back to my seat and wondered what he might be resisting that the present of Buddha lady would assist him in letting go? Again, his journey!

I went back to my seat, now on the aisle and stretched out thinking I might be able to sleep now. No go. I sat up, pulled a little battery-operated pin light with a clip, pulled the Velcro loose on the seat back in front of me and clipped the light to illuminate my journal. The overhead reading lights are just too bright and would disturb my fellow passengers in their slumber. I wrote in my journal for a long time and then pulled out the laptop to work on a video of the little Jewish angel I saw yesterday in Lower Manhattan.

Before too long the flight attendants were making their way through the cabin with water. People stirred as blinds began to open. I was hoping for light, but it was still dark. We were landing early, about 4:40 am, so I should be ahead of the morning commuters.