India assaults the senses with colour texture, noise and smells. The surfeit of colour and brash celebration of kitsch is a revelation to those exposed to the country for the first time. I can sense that awe in the reaction of my kids to their new home. They are overwhelmed on a daily basis by the sights and sounds .. My little girls cannot get over their bangles, and shimmering kurtas, overdose of colour in the local markets, the splendorous sarees and clothing, loud colours of festivals -Holi, Diwali, Ganesha- brashly painted faces of the behrupias sometimes seen roaming streets....
For me, moving back to India was rediscovering the familiar. For the kids on the other hand, it has been about the creation of a brand new memory bank.. I see them fill it up with colour and language and experience each day. It is hard not to be taken by their wide eyed innocent excitement for the mundane.
Naturally, the house needed to have more colours as a reflection of the excitement..! Albeit still with a little restraint, for all the red and green and blue we have up on the walls, there is black, beige, taupe and plenty of white neutral space too.. all that marries our existing, Chinese, oriental and contemporary possessions into an Indian space.
Here's is a general colour palette used around the house..
