It has finally happened. The Lado Sarai art road was a bubble waiting to burst and all the bonhomie of joint openings on the same day and good ties amongst the gallerists and art watchers/buyers who would take the rounds of the galleries is a thing of the past.

In the initial days, one heard with amusement, murmurings about one gallerist undercutting the other and trying to lure away the clients of the next-door gallery! Clients and artists had a field day as they hopped, skipped and jumped from gallery to gallery, hunting bargains and promoting themselves.
But, those were the days my friend…we thought they would never end… goes the song, but not so my friend. As a few major galleries, including Gallery Anant, Gallery Threshold, Gallery Ragini have shut shop from Lado Sarai and are yet to open elsewhere, one begins to wonder if this is the general situation of the art mart or has Lado Sarai got something to do with it. Like Rashomon, it is a combination of both.
Lado Sarai is one of the erstwhile villages of the Mehrauli area that were once on the outskirts of the city, but have been assimilated into the city as part of a natural expansion process. The area is out of the purview of the municipal corporation and is like a lal dora where construction is rather haphazard. Largely populated by the Gujjars and Jats, the villagers who own property on the art mile have been making a lot of hay as the sun shines. So much so that even for folded handkerchief-sized spaces very high rentals are being demanded as their greed seems to know no bounds. Gallerists are feeling the pinch very badly.
The reasons are not too far to seek: The owners are pushing for over-the-top increase in rentals that forced the hand of the galleries to shut shop in the last few months. Galleries need to have basic infrastructure in place like proper air conditioning, lighting, straight walls and correct flooring etc., some things many Lado Sarai galleries lack. Unsure whether they will stay long enough to justify the expense and trouble, the galleries have decided to shut shop. In these times when the market is still to look up, one can’t blame them.
Even though Lado Sarai art road was a tad better than Hauz Khas village that valiantly tried to keep the art flag flying, its vehicular inaccessibility was a huge deterrent for the stiletto-clad hip brigade that often constitutes the whimsical art buyer. Where her Louboutin footwear can’t go, she won’t either. Lado managed to come up with a good and viable answer. As the widest road of Lado Sarai became the art mile, there was dedicated parking nearby that came handy during the art night openings and on other days, there was enough space for the day-to-day traffic.
But going by the old adage of the bee and the honey, other shops too started to worm their way into the art mile space. Unlike Europe, where something like this would be highly appreciated and would find itself promoted on to tourist maps in a big way, what may have been our unique selling point (USP), is being firmly eroded. But, then we artists, gallerists, curators and all those connected with the arts are a marginalised lot. However high profile we might be, since we don’t constitute a big vote bank, the politicos don’t care for us, the government thinks we are rich enough to handle our problems, to the art buyers we are well-heeled blokes trying to rip them off, and so this miniscule minority tries to stay afloat hanging on to dear life often on matchstick-sized pieces of hope! Viva live art!

Dr Alka Raghuvanshi is an art writer, curator and artist and can be contacted on alkaraghuvanshi@yahoo.com