ANGANA & ABHIMANYU

VETERAN ARCHITECT ABHIMANYU DALAL AND LONGTIME JOURNALIST ANGANA PAREKH'S HOME IN DELHI IS A STUDY IN HOW TO TRULY LIVE WITH ART THAT HAS BEEN COLLECTED PASSIONATELY AND DISCRIMINATINGLY OVER YEARS.

- WRITER SUNIL SETHI PHOTOGRAPHER AVESH GAUR

Imagine the home of an architect married to a journalist. Whatever image you might form of this abode, all bets are off when it comes to the family house that architect Abhimanyu Dalal built, where he lives with his wife, Angana Parekh, who has spent much of her life in the hurly-burly of national dailies.

The singular distinction of their park-facing home in a salubrious central New Delhi neighbourhood is the enthralling art collection within. It is vast, a virtual A to Z of modern and contemporary Indian artists that would easily outnumber—and outshine—the most comprehensive of art catalogues. In a fine balance between the sacred and secular, the trove of modern art seamlessly pivots on a display of exquisite 19th-century Shrinathji pichhwais, painted textile backcloths that invoke the devotional Krishna sect of Nathdwara.

There is nothing remotely random about the acquisition of these varied artworks, passionately but discriminatingly built up over decades. As he dwells on the series of gallery walls or the art-lined staircase of the three-storeyed house, Dalal himself is bemused by his twin achievements.