Going to the movies with friends was a formative activity in my very tiny social life as a nerdy teenager. Most of the time when plans were made, even back in school I was too settled to leave the house. A new book of algebra, a Vedic maths assignment, some garbage English language novel — I always had something better to do. Except when I didn’t — then I went to the movies. My second biggest love affair.

It first started off as movies that we went to as educational trips organized by the school. Those were usually Ants, Babe, Troy, Lakshya, Munna Bhai, and others. A handful of outings where we got to rebel and revel in our own ways. Then, it was the act of sitting straight up, paying heed to the screen but also to the gentle cadences around — whose elbow was nudging whom, who tried to pass a chit with a message for whom, which boy finally mustered the courage to hold his lady crush’s hand.