He noticed that my hairstyle had changed since the last time we met, and for conversation’s sake I asked him whether it was really true. And he said yes, that it was shorter on the sides and thicker on top, a sentence so mechanical it might have been said by a professional barber. But as we rode the elevator in silence, I was awed - amazed, really - that at a time when all everyone wanted to do was to fit in, he was comfortable with being his own weirdo self.