Certainly, Indian art has never had as many highs as in recent years, when works by contemporary artists like Atul Dodiya and Anju Dodiya have crossed or are hovering around Rs 1 crore (Rs 10 million).

"Indian art isn't about Chinese bamboos and Japanese cherry blossoms," a spokesperson of Bodhi Art had commented, ". . . it has depth and a limitless spectrum." And how correct he was.

This fact accounts for high price of works by NRI artists like Paris-based Sakti Burman. "I can pay up to Rs 550,000 for any recent work by Burman," said an art collector-cum-industrialist, who does not want to be named.

Based out of Kolkata, this collector often sets out on trips abroad just to enhance and enrich his collection.
Image: An Indian patua (painter-minstrel) from West Bengal gives final touches to a painting at a gallery in Bangalore. The ancient painters are unfolding new themes to keep the dying art form alive.