This is in sharp contrast to the approach of many of the so-called collectors of today, who in many instances would qualify more as shoppers and speculators rather than art lovers. They don't have an independent outlook which sets them apart from the frenzy of the art market. In today's cultivated world, the appreciation and ownership of works of art has become an important part of our cultural ambience. Buying for social prestige and for speculative reasons has become so widespread that we have a new breed of `acquisitive collectors' and a new generation of dealers who are thriving in this climate of vigorous consumerism. Their language iscommercial and not aesthetic. Art has become an `investment', `merchandise', and a function of net worth. Acquiring art to decorate homes and offices, bidding at auctions and buying out an artist's entire show are all perceived as acts of collecting.

But these activities are simply a form of shopping. A collection at most times is not just the result of conspicuous expenditure. What is important is the scholarship surrounding it, the constant refining of knowledge which aids the judgment of the collector to be independent of the market. A successful private collection is one that has the unique ability to elevate the taste of the public and of future generations and a successful collector is one who has aesthetic acumen, determination and the ability to fly in the face of current taste. Unfortunately, the word collector today, has been completely adulterated.

The most admirable collector of contemporary Indian art has been Emmanuel Schlesinger. He owned the Indo-Pharma works and lived in Bombay in the1940s. He was the first one to build a collection of young artists like Raza, Husain, Ara, Souza and Gade. His abiding concern was to encourage these struggling, penniless artists. Purchasing was not his only act of appreciation or of support. He was their mentor, their father, their patron.

He exposed them to the Modernism of Europe, sometimes paid their medical bills, helped them find studio space and above all, gave them hope. Kekoo Gandhy is cited as saying, "Schlesinger was singularly responsible for a lot that has taken place in Indian art". A grand epitaph for any collector.

Chester and Davida Herwitz and Kanwaldeep and Divinder Sahney have assembled superb mosaics of recent Indian art history. As collectors, they have shown that they are not influenced by the hype surrounding art and that their commitment is only to works they admire. They are confident and their own curators. No dealer or gallery owner could sell to them by convincing that whatever is bought will be of immense value one day.Connoisseurs like them who know what to buy are as much scholars as purchasers, and therefore the acquisition of art for some collectors is as much a learning experience as it is a purchase.

That is the difference between collecting and shopping.