'WE JUST NEED OUR OWN SUNLIGHT'

Amid sage green walls, fish-headed figures, and sunlit terraces in Noida, artist Neha Sahai finds her stillness. A home that reflects her art, her past, and her search for belonging.

- ADITHI REENA AJITH

IT was a rainy morning in Noida-the kind that turns the skyline grey and the city's edges soft. But inside artist Neha Sahai's duplex, everything glowed warm and golden, framed by her plant-laden terraces and an open studio that seems to hold its own sunlight. Stepping in feels almost cinematic, like entering a woodland cottage somehow suspended inside a high-rise. It's a self-contained world of sage-green wooden walls, books stacked along the shelves, and tables dotted with trinkets and ceramics-all telling the story of an artist finally at home after years of constant movement, and a long journey toward belonging.

Sahai and her husband, Vaibhav Srivastava, moved to Noida after years of shifting between Mumbai, Gurugram, and Bengaluru. The apartment reflects their two distinct worlds the top floor is Sahai's realm, a sunlit living room in sage green, three open terraces, and the studio that doubles as her refuge. Below is Vaibhav's office and a moodier den of dark wood and deep blues. "I love trees, flowers, light-I find clouds magical," she says. "Vaibhav likes calm, depth, and quiet. Together, it balances us."

Feeling of home