This is the story of an ordinary family in Delhi, who have lived extraordinary lives. Geeta and Mrityunjay Athreya’s home in South Delhi feels like a museum when you first enter it. Curios, souvenirs and mementos fill every inch of its walls, starting right from the entrance of the house.
All of these are from various parts of India, and is Geeta’s labour of love – one she got to indulge in during her 20-year stint with the UNICEF when she got to travel to the remotest parts of the country.
The list of achievements of her husband Mrityunjay Athreya, are endless. A celebrated author, educationist and management advisor, he is widely regarded as one of the founders and pioneers of Indian Management movement and education.
Needless to say, the couple have lived rich, unique, accomplished lives – habits they have passed down to their twin children (a son and daughter) as well.
Mrityunjay Athreya’s life story is diverse and inspirational. Born in a small town of Tamil Nadu, he studied there until Class 11, following which he would take a train every day, to and from the nearest college. After working in Chennai for a few years, Mrityunjay went to the US to do his PhD in Management from Harvard.
Even though he had several opportunities to stay back there, he chose to come back to India, because as he says, it will always be his ‘karma bhoomi’
In 1967 he came back, and joined IIM Kolkata as a faculty, and taught there for 6 years. This was a momentous period in his life, because during this time he met, fell in love and married Geeta, moved to the UK to teach as a visiting professor at LBS, and become father to twins – a son and a daughter!
But Mrityunjay could not drown out the call of his motherland, and in 1978, the family moved back to India to finally settle down in Delhi.
The family moved into this home in Delhi in 1982. Since then, Mrityunjay has gone on to be a part of the committee that was responsible for the mobile revolution in India, been declared as the ‘Management Guru’, and even won the Padma Bhushan in 2014.
Not to be left behind, his wife Geeta has a 20-year experience of working with the UNICEF, then took a course to be a museum guide at the National Museum in Delhi, and is a yoga instructor.
She also has a sprawling cactus collection in the garden, and has been collecting them from all over the world since the last 30 years. In fact, she is the Vice President of the Indian Society of Cacti & Succulents.
The couple have large families and friends spread all over the globe, and love to meet them and socialise at their beautiful home in Delhi. They very frequently have parties here.
Their daughter is happily married to a Pakistani, and as Mr. Athreya puts it, “The culture in Lahore, Chandigarh and Delhi is the same. It’s just an artificial border”.
This house has seen it all – surprise birthday parties, weddings, countless celebrations. Even though the family have lead globetrotting lives, and had every opportunity to live elsewhere, something that is often upheld as the ultimate dream, they always chose to come back to India, to come back home.
‘Houses of India’ is our weekly photo-story project, where we discover one home, and its story. Follow us on Instagram @housingindia, and join us on this beautiful journey across the country.
