Bright red cushions, antiques and souvenirs from around the world brighten up Jaya Jaitley’s living room

It’s one of the most desirable addresses in New Delhi. Sujan Singh Park is in the heart of tree-lined Lutyens’ Delhi, a stone’s throw from the city’s bazaar for all seasons, Khan Market and just next to Lodi Gardens, where the hoi-polloi go for their morning walks.

Sujan Singh Park has been home for Jaya Jaitley, the former Samata party leader and the chairperson of Dastkaar Haat Samiti, for over 45 years. Jaitley is a czarina of the arts and crafts and it shows in every nook of her first floor, one-bedroom apartment. The ‘look’ is unmistakably ethnic what with Tibetan rugs in the living room, a Jordanian woven tablemat, black metal Bastar curios, an African mask and jars from China.

The high-ceiling apartment — which once belonged to her late mother — is where Jaitley grew up and today bears her arty stamp. “This is where I spent my childhood,” says Jaitley who is dressed in a trademark handloom sari.

A wooden jar from Nepal, a stone sculpture from Pakistan and oil containers from Gujarat sit pretty on a window sill

So everything in her home is more about sentimental value than expensive objects de art. “Nothing in my house is very expensive,” she says.

And that’s how she wants her home to be. She doesn’t believe in investing on ‘things’ of great value. “I neither have the means nor the inclination to do so,” she says.

The living room is at once cheerful and artistic. Red tones jump out at visitors — in the upholstery, in the weave of the Tibetan rugs and the cushions. The colour perfectly complements the warm tones of the antique furniture.

Jaitly has inherited some fine antiques from her parents. The centrepiece of the living room is a carved camphor wood box that comes with a tale of its own.

The box once belonged to a Chinese immigrant Charles Samion who fled to India after the Communists took over in China. Jaitley’s father, who was in the government and was in charge of rehabilitating Chinese immigrants, had allotted a shop to Samion in Connaught Place. Samion gifted Jaitley’s father the box for helping him make a new beginning.

“My father didn’t like accepting gifts so he paid Samion Rs 100 for it,” recalls Jaitley.

Jaitley’s favourite corner is the dining room where she spends most of her leisure time

Giving good company to the box is an antique carved bench that her mother bought decades ago. This too has been given red upholstery for dramatic effect. A table from Nepal is placed next to the bench and is covered by a woven table mat Jaitley picked up in Jordan. She recalls: “I was on my way to Iraq during Saddam Hussain’s time and had to go through Jordan where I picked this up.” A three-seater sofa draped in duck-egg green silk completes the picture.

The interiors of Jaitley’s home don’t just reflect her sense of aesthetics but also her beliefs. Take the living room’s Tibetan rug. Jaitley’s a strong supporter of the Dalai Lama, and she was gifted this rug by some close Tibetan friends 15 years ago.

“I love designing spaces out of small things,” she says. So, the two large windows (that overlook the colony’s inner lane) have interesting curios sitting on the window sills, most of which speak volumes about Indian art and crafts.

More souvenirs, photographs — and above all, books — are placed on and around the fireplace. “Reading has been a part of my life,” says Jaitley.

Colourful coffee mugs add to the cheery ambience in the house

A book rack is crammed with books and family pictures — of her grandchildren, her classical dancer daughter Aditi and son-in-law, the former cricketer, Ajay Jadeja, her son and his French wife.

Adjoining the living room is a dining space that is just as vibrant. While one wall blazes with posters that Jaitley bought from different museums around the world, another rack arrests the attention with its row-upon-row of multi-hued, daily-use mugs.

East meets West once again as the table cloth is Parisian and the durrie from Dilli Haat. The super-busy Jaitley, who follows a rigorous 9am-to-9pm routine, says that she spends a lot of time here reading and working on her laptop.

Sometimes she carries her work into the bedroom where she plonks on the bed with a hot cup of tea.

“I wanted my home to exude warmth and peace,” says Jaitley for whom home is a haven and her fiercely guarded space.