And it is a good thing the Ministry of Railways has thought of decorating the trains with reproductions of contemporary artists' works rather than with those vapid `Visit India' posters they used to have before.

If we take this random choice on the train as a fair cross-section of general taste, we see a presence of the Bengal School in Chugtai, the Shantiniketan School in Benode Behari Mukherjee, the Bombay Group in M F Husain and Tyeb Mehta, elements of the symbolic and abstract in Bimal Das Gupta, Jehangir Sabavala, Redeppa Naidu and Shanti Dave. The radicals are represented by Jatin Das and Paritosh Sen. Clearly, our contemporary art is not restricted to any one school.

There are, however, elements that seem to be common right through. The first is the predominance of the figurative. Even the abstract art that is there is only a step removed from the landscapes or traditional icons and symbols. In India, eclectic and innovative art is preferred to the purism of the west. Secondly, the works are strongly influenced by the styles, the narrative and symbolism of the peasantry, who were the backbone of the National Movement.

This should not be taken to mean that our art is somehow more advanced and liberal than that of the West. It only reflects a general adherence to a trend. And a patchwork of conventions is not its main thrust. This "anything goes" attitude is what is responsible for the continued existence of a strong element of the decorative, symbolic and ritualistic in our art even today, and for keeping it backward.

Of course, some artists try to explain this away as post-modernism. But it is doubtful whether one can be post-modern without being modern first. And modernism demands we free ourselves of ritual symbols and traditional conventions for a start. What is called for is an art that is able to relate to creativity as a material process, is irreverent and original. In fact, as long as we fail to do that, our contemporary art will continue to be looked upon as an ethnographic curiosity rather than contemporary aesthetic expression, and will sell at considerably lower prices than contemporary art that is seen as avant garde.

Our contemporary artists are learning this slowly and prices are improving steadily. In the Bonham's auction, Husain fetched Rs 118.48 per sq cm, which is much higher than the average of Rs 88.70 per sq cm he used to fetch a couple of years ago. A Ganesh Pyne tempera sold at Rs 830 per sq cm, which is even better than the average of Rs 500-550 per sq cm he used to command earlier.

It is evident that the taste we have analysed as constituting the main trend in our art, the art of the National Movement, is figurative, draws inspiration from the myriad of folk styles of the peasantry and has a radical content, with or without a narrative presentation. We can see that it still commands the best price. The cultural ethos of a 20th century art with its grounding in the process of decolonisation, something that has worldwide relevance and has continued beyond the collapse of the Soviet Union giving it staying power as a trend, is the basis for its continued success.

This is what has made this art popular not only in India, but also in the world. The strength of the market for this art is reflected in the fact that even those who unleash attacks on artists like M F Husain are forced to put up his works in public places and even gift them to international dignitaries. One can, therefore, expect this trend in art to persist during the forthcoming Christie's auction and beyond it, tastes in art being resilient as they are.