Exclusive: ‘I refer to Vastu Shastra as the most important aspect of the house,’ Amar Upadhyay

Amar Upadhyay at home

What's your favourite spot in the house?

My favourite spot in the house is my temple room which has got only a temple there's no furniture at all. There is just a small little fish tank in the room. The whole garden is visible from the rear window of the temple and the window overlooks Lokhandwala back road to Malad and Borivali. You can see the eastern mountains of Mumbai and sometimes I sit with coffee and look around the garden downstairs while enjoying the lovely breeze. It's the northeast corner of my house, it is very peaceful according to Vastu Shastra and a lot of beautiful birds sit by the window. I do yoga sometimes, I do my cardio there too that's my favourite place to hang out in the house.

How did you design this area?

We didn't design much, my wife and I decided we'll only have the temple in the room. We have six bedrooms in the house and we use four of them, the rest are spare rooms. So, we decided to keep the temple in the north facing room, as per Vastu temple should be in the east corner of the house and the back garden looks great from there and I don't want to spoil the view of the room by keeping any of the furniture there. Sometimes my dad also does yoga there and we usually hang out over there.

How did you choose a colour scheme?

A couple of years back we had various colours like maroon, yellow and green in the bedrooms. We then thought of working with some simple decor and light colours once in a while so we decided to go with off white colour. Earlier we had various colours on the wall it was looking a little different, now it looks much better and everything is decided by me and my wife.

What's your favourite decor item?

My study room is my favourite place where I have an open book rack which is about three to four levels. I am fond of reading fiction books, though I have all kinds of books over there. If I like any book I pick it up and read slowly as I find time. At the moment I am reading one book which I bought three to four years back it was lying somewhere behind one of the other books. So, I was just going through my library and I found this one. I have a small little desk and my son got his play station set up there. I hang out there to send emails, watch movies or videos on my boss chair.

What's an ideal day-off at home for you?

My ideal day starts at 6 in the morning, I get my bottle and I go for a run or I go for a long walk for at least 45 minutes. Sometimes if I feel like I ate too much food at last night's dinner then I go for cycle ride like after completing my walk for 25 - 30 minutes. I go around Andheri with my cycle and after coming back home, first I take bath. Then I have coffee with some sandwiches which are prepared by my wife. Then I just chill around and watch something on Netflix . After lunch I sleep for a while and see if the kids want to go out.

What's the most important aspect while deciding about a house?

I need to first refer to Vastu as the most important aspect of everything I do with my house, first of all, I just renovated two bathrooms in my house and I wanted to be very sure about it doesn't affect my Vastu if it does then what are the remedies? So, the most important aspect for me is Vastu as far as the house is concerned.

If one ever visits your home, the one thing they will be treated to...

Samosas, jalebi, khaman dhoklas, amazing coffee which my wife makes, masala chai and great hospitality.

The item one will always find in your pantry

Green tea, lime, honey and coffee. I have all different kinds of coffees from different parts of the world. I am not fond of tea much but green tea and coffee is something you will definitely find at our home.

A series you're currently binging on when at home

Currently, I am watching the second season of the Black list and the film Meenakshi Sundareshwar.

Your favourite gadgets at home

I am not fond of gadgets unlike like my son. I just need Wi-Fi and a fire stick connection then I am set to watch my series/movies but otherwise my son has a lot of stuff.

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