A dot blurs and slowly distends into vastness. They pick the last piece to complete the puzzle, space abound with every chunk reflecting the integrity of thought. It’s their cosmos. Welcome to 83, Surya Nagar.The high walls and the huge gate somehow camouflage the imposing look of the duplex structure. The eerie silence is broken by the sound of music and soft tapping of feet that gushes through the door as Odissi danseuse Aruna Mohanty enters the room. Her students are busy rehearsing for the upcoming festival. “There are too many things up my mind these days,” says a visibly tired Aruna. It was her idea to have a studio at home that set the hammer on their ancestral house. The effect: A small office room, a big living room and an even bigger lounge-cum dining area besides the studio on the ground floor with the stairs leading to the bedrooms and the terrace on the top.A dancer’s abode is often associated with sculptures and carvings on woods and stones but here you will find none. It’s a sense of freedom and expression of all the five members of the house that dominates the scene. “We have tried to keep things simple with stress on necessity rather than luxury,” she says. No compromise on aesthetic though.Every detail contributes to the airiness of the room from subtle shades on the wall to large floor tiles. While windows allow an expansive view of the abundance of nature outside, the lighting of the interiors highlight some rare collections of her hotelier husband, Debasis Patnaik. R K Laxman’s common man decks up a wall in a room, while Gandhi’s handwritten pieces lends a classic touch to the office room that has now been converted into a living area. “We needed the living room for my ailing father-in-law,” she says. The owner has beautifully played up the natural light with a huge door opening to the courtyard in the lounge area. The eyes reaches for the light filtering through the fibre glass fixed on the dome above closing on an illusion of vastness. “The house has been remodelled on the original space structure and the lounge area was earlier the courtyard,” says Debasis. The huge master bedroom with walls dressed up in cream and mustard aptly combines the couple’s love for serenity after a hectic day or a long trip away from home.The sleek furniture are the perfect add on. Tailor-made, they sit nicely on the floor space without cramping the rooms, while the glass tables keep up the appearance of open and free space. The glass-topped tables with lamps underneath have been used to create an ambience through diffused lighting.Small space has been carved out on the walls with highlighters to allow display of artefacts collected from world over. Her love for candles brightly lights up every corner of the lounge area designed to hold huge get-togethers.All efforts have gone into creating the havelli look, as the supervising architect Amulya Panda puts it. It took them one and a half years to freeze the design. With the complete picture yet to emerge, the setting can only get bigger and louder. “You are yet to see my other collections. The ‘Dasaavatar stamp’ will soon adorn one of the walls,” says a proud Debasis.
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