Mumbai, March 18 -- On the 13th of March, I went to a theatre in Mumbai reluctantly, not unwillingly, but with the quiet resistance that cities like Mumbai, Delhi, New York, London, and Paris cultivate in those who live within them. When one exists inside a constant current of spectacle, stimulation becomes surplus.

You begin to ration wonder. You choose stillness over sensation, silence over spectacle. Invitations arrive like echoes, and often, instinct says no, not out of indifference, but out of preservation. There is only so much the soul can absorb before it begins to protect itself.

And so when Vinay Mishra, indefatigable, insistent, almost devotional in his persistence, called, messaged, reminded, nudged, and then nudged again, J...