India, Sept. 11 -- In Belgium, there is a saying: all Belgians are born with a brick in their stomach. Didier Vanderhasselt, Belgian Ambassador to India, explains, "It means that right from your first salary, you think about building a house." It's then almost coincidental that a brick structure in Chanakyapuri laid the foundation for diplomatic relations between India and Belgium in the 1980s. Today, the same structure is a part of the ongoing art and heritage festival, The City as a Museum - Delhi edition, by Delhi Art Gallery (DAG). Last Friday evening, as guests gathered to admire the brick building of the Belgian Embassy, memories and conversations flashed back to 1983 when artist Satish Gujral designed it. "It was one of the first diplomatic buildings in central Delhi to be designed by an Indian artist instead of a Western architect," says writer-historian Giles Tillotson, sharing how the embassy's red-bricked igloo-shaped domes and large archways are "reminiscent of temple architecture of India". While the use of brick seems quintessentially Indian, it also resonates with the Belgian ethos. The country had commissioned this building at a time when it was going through economic crisis and the Cold War. Vanderhasselt adds, "There was a dark period in Europe because of the Cold War... At that time, building this cost what would be a modern-day estimate of €3 million (over Rs.31 crore)."...