As Gallery Jamaat—opposite the legendary kebab and kati roll stall Bade Miyan— completes nine years this month Mecklai takes a trip down memory lane while munching on her favourite baida chapati roll. “My relationship with the Bade Miyan gang is symbiotic to the gallery, all our anniversary and big shows are catered by them,” she adds.

“It really began when I was a six-year-old. My father took me out to the galleries on our Saturday lunch outings. Even though there were just three galleries—Jehangir, Chemould and Pundole—I fell in love with art and even aspired to be a painter,” says a misty-eyed Mecklai. “My mother would not have any of it, since she thought all artists were drunks and womanisers (rolls her eyes). So, I ended up studying science, which I did not regret in the end. However, in 1999, after my dad passed away and I inherited this space, my husband Jamal (Mecklai) encouraged me to start my own gallery,” says the 55-year-old.

Jamal is every bit the businessman in his grey suit. He not only shares his wife’s love for art but also her taste for bright colours. In fact, when in holiday mode, Jamal looks so relaxed in his Hawaiian beach shirts that no one would guess there is a hardnosed risk-management consultant under that affable exterior. Together the couple are a regular sight at art openings and never talk business without a smile.

“The opening show was artist Laxma Gaud’s and I think it has been one of my best till date. Jamal has always supported my ventures without trying to intervene,” says a proud Pravina, giving her husband lots of sidelong hugs.

She is in favour of encouraging talent from outside Mumbai—cities like Kolkata, Baroda and Hyderabad as well as India’s neighbours Sri Lanka and Pakistan. “I find that many Bombay artists tend to be arrogant since they belong to the city that is considered the commercial capital. Artists from outside are a lot more approachable,” she observes.

Of course she does have her Mumbai favourites like Prabhkar Kolte, with whom she has planned a series of six talks over weekends, Sudarshan Shetty, whose installation The party is elsewhere captured her gallery in the tragic moment when the whole building collapsed, and Samir Mondal, whose upcoming solo show has a surprise celebrity guest who recently acted as an art teacher.