It was back in 1994 when Mudita and her brother started staying at a small cottage on the outskirts of McLeodGanj for their summer vacation. Her parents used to bring them to this house, facing the Himalayas, every year. Unsurprisingly, being immersed in utter peace and natural beauty was lost on two little kids who wanted their precious vacation to be a tad bit more exciting. So Mudita and her brother passed the time by feeding bread to the neighbourhood eagles.
Mudita’s earliest memories of this house are of her parents sitting outside, and enjoying magnificent sunsets. While a seemingly tedious pastime to a young child, she grew up to understand and appreciate this mundane pleasure. And with a view like that, the appreciation comes quite easily!
It was in 2012, when in an attempt to run away from a turbulent relationship, Mudita left her job in Delhi and came to this family house in McLeodganj for three months in search of peace. However, at the end of those three months she had no intention of going back to the drudgery of city life, and luckily she got a chance to work on a book about the Dalai Lama around the same time. She ended up meeting him as well! ‘What you seek, is seeking you’.
Mudita slowly started rebuilding her life in the hills of McLeod Ganj. She set up her graphic design office in this enviable home studio in the hills, and now works from here and lives in this beautiful cottage with her boyfriend Manuel. After all this time, Mudita had finally her home, and it had been there all along!
‘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.
