Singer Sona Mohapatra’s apartment is a whimsical cabinet of curiosities

Curiousity and Wonder

Perhaps the first space we notice this is in is the dining room across the living room, where a large wooden swing serves as seating across one side. “As a child I was very curious, exploring places to find little corners and surprises, which you don’t find in homes in Bombay where space is a constraint. So it’s a thrill to have a home where a bunch of things are awkward, like this dining table, where you can’t directly access the swing seating area. While it was being made, an architect friend called it a huge flaw, pointing out, “You can’t take a whole roundabout to go to the other side to sit.” I remember calling Tejal laughing about it, saying, ‘What do they know? We are not normal like that!’,”

When the couple bought the home, it was in mint condition like any other newly constructed apartment in the city with marble floors, tall windows, ample sunlight and a well-thought-out floor plan. “It disturbed me,” shudders Mathur when thinking about the large white marble staircase that connected the two floors. “I wanted to bring some life into this very deadpan double-height space, along with warmth and a sense of Indian-ness. A mix of stained glass interspersed between the windows with a mix of large and small artworks were placed along the walls to come alive as you walk up. At the time I also found antique planks of ship wood that had aged beautifully. It had been treated and seasoned to withstand just about anything—we could all get wiped out one day, but this staircase will still be here in all its glory,” she declares.