On the way to Afficiandom (another word I probably inventisized)

A friend, Rohit Balan rbsw.blogspot.com spotted this small ad in mid day advertising for a book festival at Rupa Book store at Nariman Point, where Ruskin Bond was supposed to make an appearance. We skipped everything and headed straight for that place, to find ourselves half an hour early. So we head over to this art gallery adjacent to the book store, and the whole notion of painting hit me. I was one of those people who laughed at those art aficionados analyzing and interpreting each painting, but once you are in a gallery with a piece in front of you, your outlook simply has to change. There really IS room for interpretations, patterns that emerge and are just out of the grasp of your comprehension. It was some Bong, I forgot the name, hope my friend remembers it. There was a bird in almost every frame, and the genders were often shown with interchanged characteristics. Props such as pots, flowers, apples and bycicles were regularly used. Couldn't make sense out of it all - not much anyway, but could still appreciate it - something more than random scribbles anyone can do. Got a taste of what art really is all about. Maybe I will turn into one of those much hated aficionados.