The smart thing vs the right thing

What should one choose to do?

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