Magician Maneka Sorkar has set up a rope trick on a Rajasthani meenakari table placed in the living room

The three-storey white mansion located on the corner of a busy Ballygunge street is no chimera and seems solid enough. But you could well say ‘Open Sesame’ for as you move into the house, there’s a veritable treasure trove of collectibles that the residents have, as it were, conjured up from around the world.

This is, after all, the house of famed magician P.C. Sorcar (Junior). It was built by his father, the legendary P.C. Sorcar (Senior) and his huge portrait greets visitors from an almost sanctified space in the marbled lobby on the ground floor.

The master bedroom sports a king-size white and gold bed designed by Jayashree Sorcar, Maneka’s mother; (Above) A life-size portrait of P.C. Sorkar (Senior) stands in the lobby reminding visitors that they’re entering the home of magic

Now Sorcar (Junior) and his wife, Jayashree, reside here with their three daughters: Maneka, who is carrying the family mantle forward, Moubani and Mumtaz.

“I got married in 1972 and I’ve been travelling around the world with my husband ever since. As resident designer, I’ve always wanted both Eastern and Western elements in our home. Our love of antiques too finds expression here,” says Jayashree. She’s the one who gets cut into halves on her husband’s shows. But she’s not allowing that on home turf. Don’t expect to find any magical props either.

The Sorcar home is, instead, a window to their magical explorations across the globe. A white marbled staircase leads up from the lobby to a living room on the first floor.

The eight-seater carved rosewood dining table is both a conversation piece and place for family conversations each

It’s an inviting space, and your eyes are drawn to a heavily carved sofa in mahagony that’s from Mysore, and a life-sized Saraswati idol. A traditional swing that Jayashree bought in Gujarat hangs opposite the sofa. “We picked up the Saraswati from Chennai around 10 years ago. The carving is like what you find in temples in south India,” says Maneka, who’s just back from a tour of France.

(From top) A carved love seat placed on the landing across the dining room, which the Sorcars picked up in Bangalore. For the Sorcars, every magic tour is an opportunity to bring home collectibles like these: Dokra statuette of a snake god; carved seat bought in Delhi; a brass Nandi bull from Hyderabad

The eclectic mix is carried forward in another nook of the living room, where there’s a low seating arrangement of exquisite Rajasthani meenakari or enamelled furniture. Nearby there’s one magical touch — a rope trick is set up on the green-enamelled round table.

Curios are scattered across the living room. A silver parrot is perched in one corner. The centre table is laden with crystal pieces the Senior Sorcars picked up from the Czech Republic. And a side table has Sorcar (Junior)’s fossil collection.

“My dad loves fossils. He has an entire collection from Japan and Nepal,” says Mumtaz, the youngest Sorcar daughter, who’s studying law but plans to become an actor.

Maneka, who has added a metal Eiffel Tower miniature from her recent Paris trip, shows off her father’s swords next. There’s one from the “magician” Namboodri family, while the other is a Samurai sword from Japan.

The marble floors and pale-coloured walls are repeated on the other floors. Maneka leads us to the second level, where the lobby opens onto a dining area, which is flanked by the master bedroom.

The eight-seater dining table is a beautiful rosewood piece with ivory inlay, which the family picked up from Bangalore. A large African Masai Mara statue sits in a corner of the dining room, and across on the landing is a carved love seat. The master bedroom has an king-sized, white-and-gold carved bed and matching wardrobe, designed by Jayashree.

The landings and staircases throughout the home carry further proof of the Sorcars’ peripatetic travels. So there’s a bronze Nandi in one corner; elsewhere, a stunning Dokra metal sculpture of a snake god rears its head.

Yet another flight of marble stairs leads to the girls’ apartment on the third floor. Apart from the three bedrooms here, there’s a small kitchenette, where Maneka occasionally rustles up a dessert for her sisters.

The Sorcars have another home in the suburbs that’s designed like a Hansel and Gretel cottage. But it’s this house at Ballygunge that they live in most for every little thing here reminds them about their lives as magicians who have caught the world in their spells.