Melanje, Chennai.

My Uncle in Chennai was really raving about Melanje and when we finally went I was charmed. Handpicked buddha statuettes, contemporary water hyacinth furniture and well displayed artefacts create a zen like atmosphere. Melanje is truly a melting pot of several easthetic cultures with buddhas from Thailand, artifacts from Indonesia, ebony heads and ostrich eggs from Africa.

Marble swans float gracfully in a frosted blue glass bowl.

I loved the gold painted lotuses on the wallThe omnipresent Ganesha makes his presence felt.

Love these ceramic butterflies

These are my favourite from the entire store- I want!!

The stairs had these stone statues all lined up

the log framed mirror is the piece de resistance

wooden ice bucket next to wooden bar cabinets

simple cardboard storage solutions

I saved this for the end. These are suspended candle holders.
And each scone is detachable so you can string 4 units for a really long line of lights or even have shorter units of 2 each. Ingenious and beautiful.

We walked out along buddha dotted entrance. I know where I will definitely go on my next visit to Chennai.

Images: Vineeta Nair