My Chandelier is up and all lit ....I wasn't quite sure how to react ... when my electrician came and did the final connecting of the chandelier ... oh! believe me ... between Sam and me ... we had assembled (it comes off in like a million pieces) and hung ... it all by our selves ... but there was some glitch somewhere ... so the electrician had to step in ...
You 'll ask me so what's the big deal about this piece ... honey, we've all seen one ... similar or prettier ... so what's the story ... :)
Well! the story is that ... at 26yrs ... just married ... and a first time home owner ... this was the biggest (besides the house ofcourse) and the most expensive purchase of my life ... you know one of those things you do and it makes you feel all grown up ... AN ADULT ... incharge of your own life ... like ...'look what I do with my life'... kind of purchase ... ;) Yep! exactly ... :)
The picture above was my apartment in Belmont,California ... and a lot of my old readers might remember this picture from a feature I did ( read it here) about peach walls I painted in this ... my first home ... :)
And there ... the chandelier ... all hung ...lit and I was so madly in love with it ...
that's how it looks in my new 4 month old ... still figuring our things out home
And so madly did I love it that when I moved back home to India ... I
brought it with me ... never stopped to think if I'd run into any trouble lighting it in India ... aaaannnndddd ... weee ... I did ... like most NRI's returning home and blowing up there expensive gadgets ... ;) ... I thought I was a smartypoo ... I knew I needed it rewired to work in India ... what with diff. current (the AC..DC fundas) ...
.... aaaandddd ... haaahaaa ... lil' did missy know that ... that wasn't quite the end of the story and happily ever after ... you see the holders for the bulbs are much smaller in the US and Europe ... and here in India and south asia ... the are slightlybigger ... (that's all the deal with standard trade practices) ... yeah!whatever ...
Can you believe my luck I just walked into a light store (here in Gurgaon) and struck up such a lovely conversation with a very interesting gentleman (believe me he is soon going to have himself a feature here on my blog) ... and I was guided the right way ... with all the wiring to change...holders and ...BEEEP! ... next trouble ...
... now if the holders are changed the original tubes that you see above ... damn it don't fit on the new bigger size ... wowwee ... what am I to do ... does that mean that's the end of the road for my chandelier ... because even if I go buy a pipe of the right size ... I'll never get it to match the rest of the chandelier and look like the original pipes ...
... have you heard of angles in todays world ... Mr.Marwah ... is that for me ... for all the trouble he went through to help me out ... just for goodness sake ... and not to stop just at him ... his son too got involved ... and now if you ask ... do miracles happen in todays world ... when all hope is lost ... hell ! yes ... Mr.Marwah and his son ... got me exact ... infact better finished pipes ... all sand blasted ... and I don't even know what all the whole procedure was to give it the exact antique finish as the chandelier ... THEY DID IT ...
And nothing beats the last bit ... they delivered it at 3 in the afternoon ... because at 4 my container left with my stuff for Pune ... I was moving once again.A short notice of 3 days ... knowing I was leaving... and may be I 'd be gone for good ... they did it ... and its that nicest feeling ... knowing such people still are there among us ... for whom its not always about money ...
As luck would have it ... I moved back to Gurgaon ... had to go say hello to Mr.Marwah and remind him of what he and his son had done for me And that I never got the chance to open the package they packed for me ... Thank God ! he remembered ... had to buy the bulbs from his store ...
And now everytime I light it ... I do catch myself smiling ... its a very special story for me ... ")