It was a night that beggared belief. We had never seen anything like it in Mumbai in recent memory. Helena Hauff, an underground German DJ who plays no-questions-asked techno tracks, had taken over the console before a packed crowd at Famous Studios, Mahalaxmi.

Around 700 people had spilled over into the smoking alley just outside the large performance space, even as neon strobe lights washed over the indoor area, while the thumping tracks left people's ears ringing. It was, in effect, what you call a warehouse party, the likes of which we remember witnessing in the outskirts of Birmingham, an ex-industrial city where defunct car factories have now been turned into nightlife venues. The closest you'll get to the same vibe in this city is usually inside clubs like Kitty Su, where similar events are a dime a dozen. But you can't really call those warehouse gigs since they are way too sanitised. And to have one in a venue like Famous Studios, where a large empty room is temporarily turned into a massive dance floor, is a genuine rarity. So like we said, it was a night that beggared belief.