Venue: National Stadium
Date: 14-17 January 2016

Winter is the time when Delhi’s cultural side is on an overdrive. Given the plethora of attractive events that happen concurrently, weekends involve difficult choices. Example – last Sunday evening we watched the play Kamdeo Ka Apna Basant Ritu Ka Sapna at Rabindra Bhawan. But this was the main course.

For entre, before the play, we visited India Art Festival at National Stadium off Connaught Place. One of the halls of the stadium was transformed into a makeshift art gallery. We saw art exhibitors from various corners of the country, putting forth their collections. There were some foreign galleries as well. It was heartening to see a stall displaying only traditional Pichwai paintings of Nathdwara and Rajasthan. While there were fewer pieces of old masters, the contemporary art genre was well represented.

The other big art event that Delhi is used to the India Art Fair. While that is held on a larger scale – more mature pieces, bigger installations, a variety of digital art, fancy eateries and lots and lots of merchandise, it comes at a big price too. The tickets are not less than Rs. 400. India Art Festival was free for all and therefore we saw many students and youngsters doing the rounds.

Plus, they had two stalls selling art supplies and one tea-patty-samosa window.

No judgement, we believe each of these events have a place of their own.