RAHUL MISHRA WAS SEEKING UTOPIA, AND HE EVENTUALLY FOUND IT IN THE MOUNTAINS

OF UTTARAKHAND. CRAFTED WITH THE SAME RIGOUR WITH WHICH THE FASHION DESIGNER BUILDS HIS COLLECTIONS, THIS SECOND HOME IS WHERE THE FAMILY RETREATS TO FOR A MOMENT OF SUNSHINE AND SILENCE, COMMUNITY AND NATURE, AND A SLOW, CONSIDERED LIFE.

- WRITER SOHINI DEY PHOTOGRAPHER SAURABH SURYAN

RAHUL MISHRA AT AATMAN, A DREAM HOME IN UTTARAKHAND THAT HE HAS SPENT THE LAST FEW YEARS BUILDING WITH LOVE AND AN EYE ON No easy pursuit, considering his wishlist—sunshine and silence, community and nature, perfect weather, and a slow, considered life. “We were trying to tick many boxes and, sometimes, such places don't exist,” says Rahul. He found what he was looking for the day he arrived at a plot of land in the village of Kalakhet. Wispy clouds speckled a bright blue sky, birdsong rang from trees and the mountain air felt cool and crisp on the skin. A neighbour, whose house was dressed in paper torans, turned out to be an old acquaintance. Serendipity seemed to meet him at every step. “I stopped searching after that,” he says.