27/02/2018

I'm just back from India where I had a wonderful time meeting people and seeing things. India Art Fair feels like every international event, with glamour, instant carpets, wine, speed-mingling and celebrity-spotting, till you get back outside the park gates into the gritty bustle of the streets. One minute you are walking along broad kempt walkways with uniformed officials wearing lanyards, the next you are outside the gates trying to find a surface on which to lay your feet which is not crumbling or occupied.

I came on setting-up day and met Roshan Chhabria, the Baroda-based artist I've been chatting to on Instagram. We sat on the warm grass outside the marquees, re-orienting ourselves witin this new actuality of meeting in real life, them he had to zip back to his gallery to continue installing his work. I also met Kartik Soud, another Instagram name, and saw Sudarshan Shetty and Boze Krish being Famous Artists. On the day of the private view, Sonia Gandhi admired Roshan work, and I said hallo to William Dalrymple.