Vogue India July 2016

nessman with little or no time for such en-
deavours? “That’s nonsense,” counters Dipti,
adding, “We personally host and attend every
single session held at Sunaparanta. It’s a great
joy to listen to artists like Bharti Kher, Jitish
Kallat or Anne Enright. Very often, even late
at night, I see Raj poring over pictures submit-
ted for an exhibition. He’s extremely hands-
on—not a single detail goes by without passing
muster with him.” Indeed, after talks or a
vernissage, the artists are personal guests of
the Salgaocars at their cliff-top home, over an
intimate dinner, where debates about politics
and art, literature and cinema, animate the
table. It is a common sight in the Salgaocar
home to have liveried waiters emerging from
the kitchen with slavers of baked lobster and
cauldrons of prawn curry. “I don’t like to ad-
dress spiteful comments about the role of Su-
naparanta... :HGRQRWPDNHDUXSHH·VSURÀW
and we fund all costs personally. Yes, work is
sold on some rare occasions, but any surplus is
invested back into arts initiatives. Anyone
who believes we’re dealing only with high-
voltage artists should know it’s these very art-
ists whose genius supports other programmes.
Sohrub Hura, a young Magnum-listed photog-
rapher, taught a workshop here—we under-
wrote the expense. Other institutions charge
thousands for similar workshops,” he says.
Dipti smiles at us, sensing the tension and
clearly willing the conversation to move for-
ward. “I’m grateful my own mind opened so
exponentially, thanks to my marriage to Raj—
I appreciate the art world, I have sympathy for
certain books. Raj’s varied aesthetic pursuits
led me to visit museums and attend gallery
talks, or go on wildlife safaris I might not have
done myself. Sometimes, the best gift you can
give a spouse is a new way to look at the old
world,” she says. “For this, I’m eternally
grateful to my husband.”

BOATS ON A SHORE
For their 30th wedding anniversary, I remem-
ber Dipti ringing me frantically on several oc-
casions to confer on what might be a good
enough gift for Raj. Eventually, she asked if I’d
create an installation—photographs and
text—to mark three decades of their unity. As
she shared a personal archive of their wedding
SKRWRJUDSKV , NQHZ , KDG LQ WKHP P\ ÀUVW
draft: the black and white images capture Dip-
ti in a demure mood, a delicate swan, while Raj
appears princely, the incandescent joy in his
eyes shining through.
In this set of pictures you see Dipti’s father,
Dhirubhai Ambani, beaming proudly while
Raj’s mother, Hirabai, looks like she cannot

wait for this nubile maiden to step across the

threshold of her house and make it a home for

them all. The pictures are installed alongside

text I wrote to honour key moments in their

life. The photographs are so pure that it takes

a while to recognise that they also document

a union of two of India’s most prominent

business families.

I’ve always been suspect of the idea of

marriage. I could not cohabit with someone,

the prospect of sharing a bedroom is disquiet-

ing, and I am uncertain I might remain en-

gaged by only one mind. But when I see the

deep, full-bodied, unfailing accord between

Raj and Dipti—two boats sluicing through

currents of time and fate, side by side through

choppy waters, with eyes on the same shore—

I’m inclined to reconsider my views. They

made marriage into the performance art of

love, a great friendship thrashing out the

years, carrying traces of a robust and unusu-

ally rare union of equality, two temple pil-

lars—to borrow from Gibran—standing apart

but together.

́:KHQ,ÀUVWPRYHGWR*RDP\IDWKHURIWHQ

asked me one question,” recalls Dipti. “Maja

ave che?’ (Are you having fun?)” Anyone who

might see the two of them knows the answer

is yes, absolutely.

Raj and Dipti are having the time of their

lives, they are the ÀQLVKHURIWKHRWKHU·VVHQ

tences, curators of private moods and custo-

dians of secret losses. “And my answer to my

IDWKHUμVKHFRQÀUPVWRPH ́ZDVDOZD\VWKH

same: ‘Bao maja ave che’.” Q

“Sometimes,

the best gift

you can give a

spouse is a new

way to look at

the old world”

—DIPTI SALGAOCAR

The couple in

their Goa home,

with the famed

Gaitonde painting

http://www.vogue.in VOGUE INDIA JULY 2016 117