In his characteristically flamboyant and unique way he allows them to borrow and live with three paintings from his collection for a period of four years, after which the works must be returned and three more may be enjoyed. His art is not possessively guarded and kept for his pleasure alone.

His office complex overlooks the bay at Nariman Point and is defined by clear glass cabins with hardly any opaque partitions. As a result, from any point in the office one can view at least eight dramatic canvasses. "I thought there should be the feeling of one large open space so that you could experience thecanvasses all around." So there exists, in the midst of files and corporate strategy, an art gallery.

Housing a collection that dates back to the late '60s when people were still collecting European Cape do Monte and Lalique figurines. Singh is among a handful of people, along with Homi Bhabha and Jehangir Nicholson, who managed to get paintings by Husain and Anjolie Ela Menon for a few hundred rupees. "As a young bachelor I enjoyed Husain's sensual woman bending over a stool with her rather rotund bottom painted strikingly." He picked that painting off a chemist's shop where it lay gathering dust. Priced at Rs 1,500, the canvas had no takers.

Each of the paintings in Singh's collection "speak" to him, almost to the exclusion of what the artist may have wished to say. He buys paintings for his personal interpretation of them. Resting a fragrant cigar on a sculpted ashtray, set atop a mythological Unicorn art table bought from an artist at Thailand, he shows off his Krishen Khanna. It is a painting ofvillagers gambling lazily under a tree.

To him, this serves as a reminder that all business is a gamble and one must be willing to take risks. In his board room a painting by Husain depicts a musician ostensibly playing the tabla. Ajit urges you to look carefully and notice an automatic rifle in his hand. "Play the music and charm the beast, a veritable banner at my board room that one can overcome an enemy with sweetness so why use force."

A Bikash Bhattacharjee typically dark and existentialist has three women around a pregnant woman. "Mother India pregnant with potential, the new millennium arrives and the pregnancy is going to be bloody. We need more than lip service democracy and hollow ideals to move ahead, and the three people looking on signify the trusting rural folk predominant in our country."

Jatin Das' erotic nudes, Sabavala's serene pastel landscapes, Yusuf Arakkal's dark passages with soulful figures, Arpana Caur's philosophies on canvas create an atmosphere of creativity. Sealing therelationship with art as far as Singh is concerned. "The reason we enjoy our work so much is because work is like energy in an art form."