India, March 17 -- The entire wall is covered with a woman's black-and-white portraits. In each one of them, she is dressed in black, and happens to be a mother in grief. This is Andrea Anastasio's bedroom. The head of the Italian Cultural Centre, Andrea lives in a central Delhi apartment. Hundreds of books fill the home. Dozens of objects-statuettes, paintings, photographs, artful lamps, some designed by Andrea himself-are arranged with the affection of someone who lives among things not as possessions but as companions. Guests to the apartment tend to wander slowly, pause, gaze, often break into small utterances of "wah wah." But the bedroom is usually private territory. This evening, Andrea lets a visitor enter. The dimly lit room is lik...