Author: Debapriya Mukherjee

Next time you step into a lift, try something. Instead of walking in and freezing, watch what everyone else does. Watch yourself too. There is a good chance you will notice a strange little performance unfolding—one nobody rehearsed, yet everybody seems to know the steps. You walk in. You turn around. You face the door. If there is another person, you quietly move to a corner. If a third person walks in, everyone subtly reshuffles, like pieces on a chessboard that nobody is deliberately moving. Nobody talks. Nobody makes eye contact. Someone suddenly finds their phone fascinating. This is not…