When the student is ready, the teacher will appear

The circle of life, the coming of age - how many movies are made on this!

I had no idea which movie was being screened; went along to shrug off the Sunday morning lethargy. To start with, when the credits rolled, I observed French. Great. And then. Omar Sharif. OMG!

Monsieur Ibrahim. He is here, much, much older. An old, toothy grin replacing his erstwhile, youthful charm. The essence remains the same.

Young Moses has a disillusioned childhood on Blue road – with a morose father, a street full of sex workers and the monotony of household tasks. He discovers comfort at the unlikeliest of places – with the kind street workers and the local grocery shop owner, Ibrahim, who takes him under his wings, imparts his life’s wisdom and gives Moses new meaning in his life.

Some sequences seem disjoint (lost in translation?) and explored before. For most part, the movie is exceedingly heart warming.

Like when he gifts Sylvie – a street worker – his toy Teddy; a boy who grew up too soon. When he refuses to acknowledge the mother who abandoned him – calls himself Momo – short for Mohammed, purported son of the Muslim Ibrahim, not borne of his Jewish mother. When he discovers what Sufism means. Mystic Islam. ‘Opposed to legalism. He's against the law. I'd rather be against legalism.’ When he helps the decrepit Ibrahim qualify (just about) for a driving license. When they go on a road trip to Turkey – the landscapes, the cultures, the almost palpable bond of love between the two.

An image burnt into my mind – How utterly lovely, how absolutely mesmerizing. I could look, look at it for hours. The Whirling Dervishes. The people of Rumi. God’s mystic dancers. ‘They spin around their hearts because God is there’.

Something else he says –

'Your love for her is yours.

It belongs to you.

She rejects it, but she can't destroy it.

She's just missing out on it.

What you give, Momo, is yours for good.

What you keep is lost forever. '

And something else – 'Slowness is the key to happiness.'

Remember that.