He was standing in the Metro car with earphones in both ears, listening intently to whatever was playing on his device and all of a sudden, he sneezes. Standing next to him is a late- teen boy who upon experiencing the sneeze looks up and says ‘bless you’. The older man with the plugged ears doesn’t hear or see him and doesn’t react with a ‘thank you’. The teenager registers that his ‘bless you’ fell on deaf ears. A minute later Mr. Earphones sneezes a second time and I watch the teen-boy take that in, consider it and with a contemplative look on his face say nothing. Mr E is completely oblivious.