There’s been quite a flurry in the art world recently, with the 3rd Art Summit in Delhi, coinciding with the first-ever exhibition of works by Anish Kapoor in Bombay and in Delhi. Now at the risk of sounding foolishly extravagant and of embarrassing the mild-mannered Kapoor, I would like to state right upfront that of all the art I have seen – and I have been sniffing around art, artists and the art world for over 40 years now – I unhesitatingly rank Kapoor’s work as the greatest.
I believe that for art to be great, it needs to create a “Wow!” from as wide a spectrum of people that encounter it, whether erudite scholars or small children or, indeed, uneducated and even illiterate villagers. To my mind, Kapoor’s work passes that test more than any other I have seen. It is hard – I would say impossible – not to be delighted at his works, and, sometimes, lose all sense of space and time, particularly when you interact with his deeply pigmented wall works.
Another dimension of greatness is, of course, impact on the world at large. And, judging from what happened a few days ago at the National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA) in Delhi, Kapoor once again scores huge points.
I was at the museum enjoying the exhibit, when I noticed an attractive woman in a sari, about my age, seemingly deeply engrossed in the deep purple/indigo/blue work at the far end of the gallery. Never one to miss an opportunity like that, I sidled up to her, and saw, to my amazement, that it was Sonia Gandhi. Remarkably, she was not surrounded by security or other hangers-on and appeared to be almost in a trance, clearly lost in time and space.
Suddenly, she started and exclaimed, “Oh my God, it’s not 2011, it’s 1991, it’s 1991! India is in a crisis!”
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She looked around, blinking her eyes. Her entourage was immediately all around her and she swept out of the room. The rest, of course, we all know from the press.
She rushed to the Prime Minister's Office in alarm and cried out, “India is in a crisis!”
Dr. Manmohan Singh sagely nodded and said, “Yes Madam, I know. Inflation is a major problem and we have a crisis in agriculture.”
“Fix it,” she said, “whatever it takes.”
Next thing we knew that the prime minister had called the finance minister, the chairman and deputy chairman of the Planning Commission, the finance secretary and the chief economic adviser and told them that Madam recognises the crisis in agriculture and has demanded no less than a complete overhaul — something akin to what we did in 1991, he said, nodding to Montek and Dr Rangarajan. There was a wry smile playing about his face, when he added, “And, Pranab-da, she said you should open the Budget with the words, ‘This will be India’s first reform of agriculture Budget.’ And, if any of the other ministers raise…”
“I can manage them,” said the finance minister, also greatly pleased.
But the happiest of all were the finance secretary and the chief economic adviser. Their job of putting together the Budget was suddenly so much easier since there was a clear focus.
Reforming Indian agriculture requires no rocket science; it just needs sensible incentives for improving yields and completely re-engineering the supply chain. For instance, improving yields requires larger farms, and corporate investment in farming could be readily attracted by providing some clear guidelines on clubbing of small, contiguous parcels of land, with existing owners being given shareholding (and, where possible, jobs). Re-engineering the supply chain could begin with providing tax incentives for investment in warehouses, cold-storage plants, and enabling foreign direct investment in multi-product and multi-format retail. Recognising that commodity markets need to be integrated into financial markets, the FMC could be moved under the ministry of finance. And, of course, it would be absolutely necessary to connect all villages (say, with a population of more than 2,000) to the nearest growth centre (with medical, education and marketing facilities) with high-quality roads.
All of this should have been done years ago, but we were starved of a crisis where the government had no choice but to act decisively, as in 1991. And now, as a result of Kapoor’s transcendent work, the “crisis” presented itself, at least in Mrs Gandhi’s mind, which, of course, is the key place for any action in the country.
So the finance secretary and the chief economic adviser went back to their rooms whistling happily –— actually, both of them were even able to take a little time out and visit the exhibit at the NGMA.
As I said at the start, Thank you Anish Kapoor.