Shankar & Joju George

Airports are usually chaotic—exhausted faces, a tide of luggage—and that day in Chennai was no exception. Rhea and I landed, only to realize she’d left her phone behind at the Mumbai boarding gate, 1,302 kilometers away. We spent 20 frantic minutes searching Arrivals for a device that might as well have been on another continent. After our wild goose chase, we wandered ten more minutes in the wrong direction before noticing journalists clustered near a gate, tripods at the ready. Though I’m not a celebrity-chaser, seeing Shankar, the legendary director, stirred something in me. I darted between pillars, camera in hand, catching a fleeting shot before he vanished into his Velfire.

Back on track, Rhea and I saw our breaths — then, suddenly, we froze: Did we just walk past Joju George? Our disbelief turned to excitement as the gentle and large actor paused for a selfie and let me capture his portrait - his calm energy palpable. That day, three surreal twists — lost phone, legendary meetings, and quiet portraits — became unforgettable; a proof that the unexpected is always waiting through the lens.