For one night only.

For one night only.

The dash across the road in the rain had my pant bottoms soaked, but all discomfort was forgotten when I settled down to watch Slumdog Milionaire. I tend to think award sweeping movies are heavy and seldom my cup of tea, but the self-claimed "feel-good movie of the year" did make me want to get up and join the actors in shaking to the Bollywood beats at the end.

It's been over nine months since my return from India, but familiar scenes and phrases from the movie transported me right back to the chaos of the jammed streets, the stifling heat of Mumbai, and the wintry cool of the Ahmedabad nights.

Watching Salim seal a bottle of tap water to pass it off as a new bottle of mineral water made me think of the time we had dinner with our dean who insisted that the bottle be opened at the table. Watching Jamal serving chai made me think of the classes we attended at MICA, and the boy from MiCafe who often brought the drink to the lecturers. Seeing the grown-up Salim reminded me of Rishit, and the night I hung out with the guys at Champa until the sun rose. And watching them dance at the end made me think of the MICA alumni party where I boogied the night away with people I barely knew. (On hindsight, I don't know where I got the guts!)

And in the darkened cinema, I wished for this one night to be back in the isolated MICA campus, drinking chai under the huge tree at Chotta or in the easy company and cigarette swirls of the guys in the Champa courtyard.