Anoothi Vishal steps into the ornate world of colour and tradition that makes up the Bakaya home in Gurgaon.
There are homes that overwhelm you with luxury. There are those, dripping labels, that may dismay you. And then, there are others that take your breath away with their sheer beauty. The Bakaya residence in Gurgaon falls in the last category. By no means the most opulent or even the most expansive to have been featured on these pages, this is a home that could be your own. Yet, it stands apart not the least because it so obviously shies away from assembly-line design and faddish interiors, bringing together, instead, a sense of rootedness in the Indian mileu with the personality of its owners.
Ajay Bakaya, executive director, Sarovar group of hotels, and owner of this house, tells us modestly enough that despite his considerable experience with the business of opening and running hotels across the country, he left the designing of his own home completely to his wife, Vasudha. The outside is simple enough; a clean façade, white arches and all, and a south-Indian style jhula welcoming you to a lovely verandah. Once you step in, it is quite another story — a colourful one at that. Blue mosaic flooring, red ceiling and even red walls in one of the rooms, green bamboo railings, stained glass windows, and even a yellow — yes, yellow — custom-made chandelier: It’s a riot of colour alright but the effect is stunning, not tacky, and warm. quite like the people who inhabit the space.
Though the home has been done by interior designer Iram Sultan, Vasudha Bakaya’s personality is evident in each of the touches. “I was very clear that the interiors should be full of the motifs of lotuses, peacocks and paisleys,” she says and points out various patterns involving these everywhere — from the “dancing peacocks” on tiles all round the central courtyard to paisleys in the floor inlay work to lotuses that we see on the stained glass window up a flight of stairs that leads you to the more private sections of the home. These, we are assured, are less ornate, more functional and modern. The stairs themselves give a futuristic feel once they are lit up by tiny floor lights, in the manner of a runway, post sundown.
Unlike most of our modern houses but like traditional kothis and havelis, this home is designed around a central courtyard, and that is its most distinctive feature. According to Vaastu Shastra, Vasudha points out, the central space in any home is the Ishtsthaan, the area of the gods, one that should be left uncluttered. True to the tenet, the area is sparsely accessorised with just a big flower arrangement in the centre. Bambooo railings on the upper floor let in an element of the natural and there is hardly any furniture to block the air and the light and the sense of space here.
But you can’t enter this central space without being struck by the Krishna corner next to the entrance of the house. An idol, made by Mumbai-based Farhad Prashad, who specialises in these, is kept here. “I had told the artist that the expression on the face of my Krishna should be such so as to bring tears into my eyes,” says Vasudha. And it is. A panel with gold leaf work, with blue “leaves” painted on, forms a backdrop to the idol.
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Both the dining and formal sitting areas open into the courtyard. Both, once again, combine disparate elements. High Lutyens style chairs grace the dining room. This is also a room with red walls, blue flooring and a shocker of a chandelier in canary yellow — a love affair with strong colours.
The formal sitting area has a mix of French style furniture and Indian bric-a-brac, including the artwork — not your fashionable abstracts but Tanjores and Pichchwais and Ravi Varma prints that Vasudha collects. Huge windows let in the outdoors and balance these ornate works. But it is the bar that is the pride of the space. We end our tour by the side of a huge “globe” — bought in Italy — that functions like a mobile trolley, with slots to keep glasses and bottles. As Ajay Bakaya lovingly arranges all manner of shot glasses in this, all that is missing is a celebration.
