Testing the art crowd

MYSTERY GUEST

Braving the buyers and stargazers at Maneka Gandhi's exhibition of lithos and etchings.

It was as if the airconditioning had broken down, the hotel's valet service was certainly finding it hard to cope, the brief presence of Bipasha Basu and Vinod Khanna created a stampede that collectors clearly resented, but in the end Maneka's Gandhi's Vintage India exhibition of lithographs, etchings and maps clearly worked.

The exhibition "" an annual fundraising jamboree for People For Animals "" took over the InterContinental Grand's basement banquet areas; and the promised cocktails "" really early visitors managed to lay their hands on the rationed few bottles of beer ""were lacking in evidence.

If the success of a show is rated by the number of people in attendance, this was clearly the tops. Collectors thrust elbows through crowds of the merely interested as they went from room to room looking for lithos to cart off home. And true to her promise, Gandhi had kept the prices low.

At hand everywhere were PFA volunteers who would help you take the lithos/etchings off the walls and follow you around as you jabbed fingers and said, "I want that, and that, and that!"

The billing counters could have proved a horrifying experience, but in spite of the crowds, even this went quite well, as the well-heeled queued up, jostled each other, but got the whole exercise of billing, paying, wrapping and delivery in a surprisingly efficient exercise.

And considering that the show, billed to open at seven in the evening, was already in business by 12 noon, the staff managed to keep up brave smiles in spite of the crowds and crazy buying.

My attendant stuck to me like a limpet as I traversed rooms, only excusing herself once when the photographers went berserk, to go and "look at Bipasha Basu". At the billing counter, they were quite happy to accept cheques without a fuss. Now, if only the promised cocktails had been there...

Score: 5/10 for breakdown of services, 8/10 for the helpful PFA volunteers "" but above all, 10/10 for the people who bore it all with rectitude.