PAVITRA & PAUL

THE TOWN OF COONOOR IS ΑΝ AD FAVOURITE FOR ITS ROLLING HILLS, ITS NEELAKURINJI FLOWERS, ITS SUNSETS, AND ITS COLONIAL BUNGALOWS. AND NOW FOR ANOTHER REASON: PAVITRA RAJARAM AND PAUL ABRAHAM'S RESTORED HOME THAT EMBODIES A VERY PARTICULAR KIND OF LOVE FOR COLLECTING AND CURATING.

- PRITI MAHAJAN

We always tend to measure history through humans but never via plants. I often gaze at the 100-year-old ficus or the native 300-year-old woodland tree and wonder what they must have witnessed over the years,” says Pavitra Rajaram, as she stands at the entrance gate to Nenagh, a 115-year-old bungalow, nestled in the Nilgiris in Coonoor, that she has lovingly restored along with her husband Paul Abraham. Pavitra, an AD100 designer and a prolific aesthete, and Paul—a banker but truly an avid historian and collector, as well as the founder of the Sarmaya Arts Foundation—have always lived in stunning homes but never in one that they created together. Nenagh for them is a dream fulfilled.

I spent a few days at their home to experience its magic. Before I began to admire the bungalow, with its magnificent colonial bones—its name can be traced to an old Irish fort town—it was the gardens that captivated me. Nurtured by the couple, along with their knowledgeable landscapist Zakeer Zackaria, it is a labour of love. From the soft pink azaleas to the deep purple melastoma, from vibrant red roses to fiery orange alstroemerias, the garden was like mother nature’s favourite child in full bloom.

To Pavitra, Nenagh is a trip back to her childhood and the memories of her great-grandmother’s rose garden. She’s brought in the salvia and cosmos as a meaningful tribute to lazy summer afternoons spent with her mother. The blooming magnolia tree has been planted in remem brance of her late mother-in-law who adored the fragrant flower. Serendipitously, it was also the tree outside Pavitra’s terrace while growing up.