Family
Rajesh, Tanushka, Tara, Imaan
Age of kids
Tara – 13 Imaan – 10
Work / Designation
Regional Head (APAC) Aegis, Social Impact Investor.
Country of Origin
India and Spain
Which other countries you’ve lived before this as a family?
Home is Malaga, Spain
Manila, Philippines
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Which area you live here in KL?
Mont Kiara
How do you feel about your neighbourhood?
We love Mont Kiara as it has a beautiful community vibe surrounded by expats, like ourselves. The ability to walk to access daily necessities, the kids school, cafes, restaurants and its connectivity to other parts of KL – definitely unique.
What the family enjoy doing together during free time?
Rajesh and Imaan enjoy going to the driving range and to the greens at Tropicana Country Club. Not only do they love the game of golf but spending some great father-son time is special.
Being an active family, we enjoy the playground equally. We are running, playing tennis or doing tabata while the kids swing and bike/scooter around.
Playing Monopoly and board/card games (Uno, Black Jack, Poker) together. It’s a great way to engage in converstaions about strategy, investments and showcase our personalities! The kids are extremely competitive and seem to know what they want. It is so interesting to be able to chat openly with them on so many topics that were considered taboo with our own parents. The laughter and excited voices makes it home!
Reading and listening to music as a family, lazing on our beanbags or cozying-in our family teepee are what typical weekend afternoons look like. We are comfortable in our silence too!
Number of rooms in the house
4 +1 bedrooms
Size
3800 sq feet.
What factor(s) makes you choose this unit
We love being on a lower floor with the greenery around and that city skyline view.
The amazing vibe and energy of the house.
The walk in closet!!
Colours used
Neutral with lots of pop of colors on the walls and furniture.
We love our green space with pink and white bougainvillas on our balcony that overlooks the tropical greenery by day and the twinkling lights and the bejewelled Twin towers by night.
Family’s favourite part of the home
The Living room and the balcony/terrace. Also hanging out by the dry kitchen counter where our internal ‘barista’, Imaan prepares the best coffee from our Nespresso machine!
Favourite art pieces / artifacts
Has to be the 10-foot long pop art canvas in our dining area. It was painted by Year 6 kids at our childrens’ school in the Philippines and auctioned to raise money for cleft lip children. Knowing that it went towards making another child smile, makes it my most precious piece of art. The happy vibe, colors of the painting and the conversations around it make it even more special.
Our life size Golden gem incrusted Buddha statue, originally from Thailand, but purchased in Bombay, India. He has travelled with us to all our homes in Spain, Philippines and now in Malaysia – it is part of our family!
The prayer alter is special to me as it houses idols and symbols from a multitude of faiths and religions. From Hindu deities, Christ and rosary beads and a replay of Buddhist chanting. We are a spiritual family and celebrate all humanity.
Where you go for inspiration
– Its always all around – from all our travels and host countries. We have always brought a part of it with us that makes up our ecclectic home. The stories and memories around them are priceless.
Any daily rituals for the family?
Our daily prayer, gratitude and affirmation practice every night before bedtime. That time is sacred for us as a family and we try not to miss out unless we are travelling or out at the weekend. Not only do we each articulate all the things we are grateful for in our daily life but also what we are grateful for about ourselves.The cuddles and chit chat after are an amazing bonus.
Recommendations furniture / lifestyle stores
We love clean lines, modern and a contemporary look. Our favorite furniture and accessorie store is Natuzzi. We have some beautiful pieces from there and from Stanzo collection from their Japanese stockists. Our go-to place in KL is Ambience by Jim Moore for their antique, distressed restored furniture and Asia inspired accents that fuses beautifully with a modern space.
My favorite lifestyle store is Good Earth in India
Life-saving hacks during COVID lockdowns
Daily Meditation, online learning at Mindvalley, reading and of course Netflix and chill!
Share with Fab! Luxe readers your passion story.
Putting any of our homes together has come very naturally. I am a dentist by profession (Tanushka) and fashionista at heart. I have an aesthetic sense with colors, shapes and all things creative.
I can visualize the look and then watching it come to life is just so exciting. Doing up this home was me being like a kid in candy store.. I was spoiled for choice with the wide spaces, the blank walls and a naturally gorgeous view from every window / balcony of our home!
A recent passion of self taught flower arrangement adds to more color in our home. I use different combinations of fresh flowers every week and I then share my passion with at least 3 people by sending them an arrangement and a note of gratitude. It is so therapeutic and the gratitude is returned ten fold. Flowers do speak a thousand words. Perfect combination of non-verbal communication and me time.
A guilty pleasure is my shoe collection with over a 100 pairs and counting-its always a challenge to find the right amount of space..but upon walking into this home and seeing that the walk in closet was perfectly designed to accommodate this… I just knew this was the right home!
The Melwani’s Sanctuary
