I first met Rushabh in person at the OASIS Conference at Bengaluru in 2023. I was a 17-year-old who had joined FOSS United to do an internship. I saw Rushabh from far away and thought I'd say Hi as he already knew me through my blogs. I went, said Hi, and asked for a picture with him, and then he went, "Am I a celebrity to take photos with me?" That day onwards, I decided that whatever happens, I'm never going to stand in any photo with Rushabh. Stubborn and rebellious as it gets.

He is a wild narrator of stories and all the knowledge he gains from Books, YouTube, and Podcasts. He is probably the only avid reader in my connections. And, that too, a reader and lover of contemporary fiction. He likes books in which Dogs are talking with the narrator. Reading surrealism is one of the common things between him and me. We love Murakami yet argue all the time about purism, difference, and originality.

Indian parents are blindly bullish about education and getting good grades in exams. He once told us a story where, in 11th grade, his father was yelling at him for not studying and eventually slapped him and left the room. After that, Rushabh quickly pulled out a Novel from his drawer and sat reading. The moment I heard this story, I could really imagine how surreal that must've been. This reminded me of when my father slapped me for using Instagram. But as soon as he left the room, I fired up an incognito tab and logged into Instagram.

As a critic, I have invested a fair amount of time criticizing his knowledge, knowledge sources, and personality in general. To be honest, I wouldn't even say I did it on purpose, but I did as a part of my nature. Judging and criticizing, for the most part, are not in our control. We even judge people unknowingly. In the early days, I wondered about his knowledge, but later despised it when I got to know it's just "YouTube gyaan". But, over time, it felt fine because he isn't Aristotle or Plato to come up with newer philosophies. He was just echoing his findings to everyone.

I used to read a lot of blogs on this medium and used to love some of it. The way he went against the system in so many ways was fun to see. It felt good seeing someone of my interest doing this on a very large scale. But freedom is like truth. It has many angles, and it will be curbed at the end of the day.

If you want to trust someone, begin by building distrust in them. I've been in a phase of building distrust of him. As a young corporate slave, one thing I've learned is to verify and check everything. He believes in radical honesty, and I believe in raw. I don't find radical honesty to be trustworthy because it is very dynamic by nature. Your thoughts and your tongue are in perfect sync. But, it's also one of the very least found traits in people. Radical honesty introduces spontaneity. He has often had the courage to take the boldest decisions in the shortest amount of time. And, at times, even revert on that decision in an even shorter time. There's no safe playing when it comes to spontaneity. Every kind of wind has to eventually die because it's just a collective form of air.

I remember this one day when he took me out for a walk to know what it is that I want from life. I did not really like the idea because it was a sunny and humid afternoon. Eventually, we went and for 1 hour talked about my Family drama, books, writing, and shaping life with arrogance and the way I want. I love discussing things like this with him. Mostly because we both skip the small talk and shoot into each other's legs very quickly.

People find it noticeably different when they see a bunch of youngsters like Safwan and me debating with Rushabh late in the night on Raven. It's noticeable because there's one side where the average age is 20, and there's one side where it's 40. Even though "Age" is just a bloody number, it still somehow becomes eye candy. The debates and discussions are around metaphysics, death, pleasure, power, and so much more. I've found him touching all sorts of topics fearlessly. It's sometimes comforting to talk with him, but intimidating otherwise. But whatever the feelings are, the age gap is always erased.

Lastly, if Rushabh is around you, you're surely going to experience things differently.