We reached his office 15 minutes before our allotted meeting time. We were shown upstairs to his conference room by an office boy who politely asked us to wait, switching on an AC and placing two glasses and a bottle of water on a centre table before leaving.
The next 10 minutes were spent just looking across the room, breathing in its calming, woody smells, bathing in its dim ceiling lights, and gaping at the massive bookshelf, as a small part of our brains worked out what angles and lighting would work best in there.
We were there, after all, to do a recce. Technically.
So anyway, ROM and Bharathi, his wife, entered and introduced themselves. We sat across from each other.
I sensed that we were expected to start talking about our work, our stories, etc.
At one point, ROM interjected to say, "Yes, I follow you on Instagram." A silent 'yay!' - silently - burst forth.
The next hour was spent discussing neurodiversity and the state of the discourse. And as is the nature of these kinds of talks, topics endemic to the system - caste, religion, corporate workings, the human psyche, the majoritarian mindset, etc - were touched upon.
Best of all - we got to thank them for all their amazing work - Delhi 6, RDB, Aks, Mere Pyare Prime Minister...
Then we walked around the space as ROM showed us around, suggesting different areas for different kinds of shoots. It was surreal. Things like these feel unreal when they're happening, and not too different from a dream, in retrospect.
Then we left, but not before taking a picture with the duo. For about 15 minutes we just wandered the streets of the suburb, not knowing where to go or what to do next. As the fuzz wore off, I called for an Ola rickshaw and we left for home before the evening traffic would ruin what had been a perfect day thus far.
One last thing - ROM invited us over to a bookstore event addressing human scavenging, scheduled for early next month.
And he said to coordinate with him directly about the space as well.
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