Field Note 09 of 22

A Government Office, Delhi

“Her assistant called about an hour ahead, asking if I could come fifteen minutes early.”

She was busy too, the same as everyone else that week. But an hour or so before the meeting, her assistant called: could I come fifteen minutes earlier than scheduled. Not a delay, not a rescheduling. Room, made in advance, on purpose.

We talked through the idea properly. She pushed back where she disagreed, asked for more detail where she wanted it, and never once let the conversation feel like it was competing with whatever came next on her calendar.

It was such a small thing, arranged an hour before I ever walked in, and it changed everything about how the meeting felt. Being busy and making room to think were not, it turned out, in conflict. She'd simply decided they weren't.

Field Note 09