Two boys whisper into each other’s ears, they seem to have developed their own language—not all of it is in words. Mihaan Gandhi and Vir Kapoor, both 19, sit on a small picnic blanket at the Oval Maidan on Wednesday, their exchange of secrets overheard by none save the Rajbai Clock Tower looming in the background. 

The inseparable duo first met at the age of 15, back in October 2020, when the city saw its first relaxation of the COVID-19-induced lockdown. Their mothers 
Moneisha Gandhi and Gopika Kapoor had been trying to set up a playdate for the two neurodivergent children, who were “very very alone”. “We had been trying to get them to meet for a few years but something or the other would come up. Gopika, too, was a bit hesitant after past experiences,” says Gandhi, when we meet her and Kapoor at the latter’s home in Parel.