—

(Whispering to me while we stand behind a dozen people staring at a painting)

A: No one knows what they are looking at.

T: They are admiring it.

A: They look asleep. That man looks like he hasn’t moved in decades. Wait, is he a sculpture?

__

(While in the same gallery next to another painting)
A: There really should be a QR code next to each piece where I can scan and vote “Art or Fart?”. I’m sure most people would have not voted favourably for this one if they had a safe space to express.

—

A: You don’t have to pretend. You don’t actually understand poetry or paintings. Do you?

T: I understand poetry when I read it aloud. And I like paintings when I see them in person. Somehow the awe of both is lost otherwise. Also it has the same standard distribution as people. I don’t like or understand most people. But some people I love.

—

(Friends are telling us stories from the recent travels about temples and their architecture)

A: (Turns to me) So we are never travelling with them then.

—

A: I have never read a poem and actually understood it. This is why we were asked to interpret poems in school. Why can’t the poet just tell us what he means?

T: Being literal is not engaging. You don’t consider news readers artists do you? I think people pick the medium that enables them to say what they want without revealing too much. Being open to interpretation is probably a good survival strategy if you are blaming the king or your lover. 

—

T: I like romanticizing art. Personal art, art that never made the artists a dime, unsuccessful art is such a strange thing. People create things because they can’t help but express themselves. Probably the only true expression we have.

A: I hate listening to people in the moment that they can’t help but express themselves.

—-

(At the end of a play, everyone rises for a standing ovation.)

A: (continues to sit) Standing ovations have lost all meaning. Are we applauding them for having travelled to the city?

___

T: You played the tabla for 8 years. You, of course, appreciate art.

A: My mother who loves music actually put me in mridangam and even as a child, I knew that was uncool. So I choose tabla. But I was mistaken. The cooler kids were playing drums.