August 1, 2002

A home is a place we all want to return to at the end of the day. The home I visited is one such place containing the two most necessary elements that nature has provided us with: sunlight and greenery. It not only exuded peace and serenity but was decorated most artfully.

At the entrance of Khaleeq and Meena’s unique home, you will find yourself in a marble foyer. The theme of the foyer sets the tone of the house. On the right is a plant and on the left two low wooden chairs with a table between them. The ornate work on the chairs grabs your attention immediately. The off-white upholstery matches the beautifully carved ivory tusks on the table, taking us back to an age when wars were waged on horseback. The grey and white painting on the wall contributes to the mellow mood. A grandfather’s clock, perhaps a hundred-year-old decorates the another wall.

The door opening into the drawing room has beveled glass panels giving a crystal like effect. The floors are teak wood and glisten like newly polished wood. The furnishings here are mostly contemporary except for a Victorian set which help break the monotony. The room is large; it contains separate sets of sofas for different angles of the room. It is all wood, which will never go out of fashion.

The next set is covered with embossed white material. Cushions of a multi-colored fabric, matching the curtains, recline on the sofas. The decorations include paintings; miniatures, landscapes and some natural studies. There is a lovely Lalique crystal flown in from Dubai and another, colored Czechoslovakian crystal from Prague. Some silver antiques are also visible.

The third area brings about a change through the colour of the upholstery. The place is adorned with Spanish LLadros decorations, including a touch of the bohemian here and there. Walking towards the adjoining dining area you will see on your side a glass green house. This is perhaps the most attractive feature of the house, the glass helps everything look roomier and the open roof fills every nook and corner with sunlight making each day brighter. The terracotta tiles under the floors create an earthy look and are in perfect accord with the wooden furniture of the house. Looking through the glass house you can see the living room.

In the dining room the floor is wooden again and the sideboard is full of delicate pieces of crockery picked up at foreign places, so typical of everything else in the house. Huge glass windows overlook a rockery that covers the area of a small garden.

There is another door here leading you into the living room through the sparkingly clean kitchen. On the left is an informal dining area that beckons you to take a seat. The glass green house adjacent to this brings fresh light and hope every monrning creating an atmospher of quiet joy. The glass windows on your right side help filter this feeling into the whole house. Both the windows open out into an oblong patio, which has cantilevers instead of a regular roof. Between the two windows, one of which is sealed now, is an elegant and expensive delight, a flat television! Placed on a rug, on the marble floors the coffee table in the center is yet another thematic piece, a coffee table; wooden base, with a glass cover that has beveled edges. This is covered with crystal and silver decorations needing frequent bouts of polishing sessions. The sofas are covered with a soft fabric and the mood is comfortable yet classy, modern yet traditional.

The door that we had seen while inside the foyer is an eye catcher. It has glass panels but with glazed centers to allow enough privacy but is not totally shut out from those who come in or leave! A sideboard decorated with family pictures, and plants placed nearby, separates that door from another one. This door will stop you in your tracks, the grains are placed in such a way so as to create a 3D effect.

It opens into another marbled area with more family pictures and two stairways one descending and one ascending. The master bedroom here has the familiar glass window that being so large almost resembles a glass wall. Behind this wall is a pebbled area with more plants and no roof. A few feet away a huge wall barricades the outside world, making space only for sunlight and chirping birds to enter. While inside, all these windows end up making you feel like you are not completely within the house.

Outside, taking the upper staircase, which comprises only of a few steps you enter two rooms identical in size and shape. The colour schemes are fascinating, as the curtains match the bedcover and sofa covers, while the carpet and furniture highlights them. The wrought iron bed, sofa and mirror compliment the greenish curtains, while the wood in the next room is in complete accordance with the beige tones. The wood and glass staircase leading you down at first gives the impression of being a basement but on closer inspection is actually the ground level. A lot more wood is present in the rooms here.

Stepping outside through a door on this floor which is surrounded by glass bricks, the blazing sunlight, is not harsh anymore, there was so much of it inside! Back to the real world, the journey through the timeless home seems to have been too short, but worth every minute!

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