Samosas, dhoklas, theplas on an IndiGo flight? This Indian family’s desi feast has sparked a heated debate online

A family turned an IndiGo flight into something that looked a lot like a mini family get-together—and the internet has plenty to say about it.A video making the rounds on social media shows the group pulling out disposable plates and setting up a fairly serious spread of homemade snacks. There were samosas, dhoklas, theplas, namkeen and various condiments, with several family members sitting down to eat together during the flight.One woman can be seen handing out the plates and serving the food. Others are already digging in.And then there’s another detail that caught people’s attention. While some family members were eating, a few of the girls were busy putting on press-on nails. At one point, people from the group can be seen moving around the cabin with their food.To their credit, they didn’t simply leave everything behind. Towards the end of the video, the woman who served the meal gathers the used plates and other rubbish and puts it into a large garbage bag.Still, the clip quickly turned into a debate online.Some people wondered why the cabin crew hadn’t intervened, particularly because of the amount of food being served. One person even suggested airlines should have rules against passengers bringing outside food, similar to restaurants.Others pushed back, saying there’s nothing unusual about carrying food onto a flight and that the family hadn’t necessarily broken any rules.Then came the bigger argument: the smell.Indian snacks can be pretty fragrant, and what smells fantastic to one passenger might not be quite as welcome when you’re sitting next to it in a sealed aircraft cabin for hours.One commenter put it bluntly, asking why passengers can bring food onto a plane but can’t even carry a bottle of water through security.Another said the food itself wasn’t the issue, but that strong smells can make other passengers uncomfortable.There was also criticism of the way some people framed the incident around regional or community identity. One user argued that the conversation shouldn’t be about whether the family was North Indian, South Indian, Gujarati or anything else. It’s about how people behave in shared spaces.And that’s probably where the discussion gets interesting.Nobody seems to be seriously arguing that samosas or theplas should never be eaten on a plane. The real question is where personal choice ends and consideration for the people sitting around you begins.If you’re travelling with your own food, cleaning up after yourself is one thing. But keeping the amount, smell and space you’re using in mind matters too.After all, a flight cabin isn’t a living room. You’re sharing a small space with dozens of strangers who may have very different ideas about what makes a good in-flight meal.