Aham Vyaktam

Isn’t the street name very majestic?

We are proud home owners now. Some said that it took them 2 years to get a house they liked, some advised it’ll take at least a year. But it took us only 4 months to find this gorgeous dazzling lovely home. Should we owe it to my twice-daily Sri Suktam chants and our temple visits or to the boundless efforts we put in searching for homes, attending open houses almost every weekend or to our great realtor who luckily happened to be professional pals with the seller’s agent of this house? I think its all the three.

There was a point at the end of just 2 months of search when we got really frustrated but we kept going, no matter what discouraged us. There was always something I didn’t like in whatever house Hari liked and vice-versa. Then we came across this gorgeous home, within less than a mile from the apartment we were staying in. Kudos to our realtor, he gave us a private sneak peek of the house even before it was open in the market. This sneak was so important because we had already been frustrated by the multiple offer wars that happened on any house in the market, to such an extent that Hari usually started with “has the blood bath begun already?” whenever he talked to any seller’s agent LOL.

So back to the private peek. The moment we parked in front of the house, the first thing that came out of our lips was “wow”. The house was so tall that the roof wasn’t visible at all, even if you stand a few feet from the house and look at it. The double door was another turn-on for both of us. Once we went in, the first level with the living room, family room and a spacious kitchen was so stunning. Kitchen was a major tick mark with all the cabinet space, breakfast nook and granite countertops and as if they are not enough, the remote-operable sun roof. The house had 4 bedrooms which was another tick mark as Hari was yearning for an office room. The master bedroom had just the space we were looking for and the pool (though it was not in our best interests) was beautiful and as a cherry on its top, was the spa. What more can you expect from a house?

When we came out of the house, both of us had a “I can see myself living in this house” sort of satisfied look, which we never got in any of the previous houses.
Then we put in our very first offer for the house and the game began. When we lost hope after a week and started looking for other houses, we got a call saying that our offer was accepted. This was victory, our very first offer for a house has been accepted. The escrow went on and on with a few issues here and there and all was well at the end.

On Aug 20th, we signed the docs and the key was ours. It was an inexpressible feeling to set our foot in our own place. We were so proud that we have a roof of our own.

Aug 26th was the Grihapravesham. We had moved our stuff before that and we had spent a whole weekend setting things up. We had hired a priest for Grihapravesham. I had to put maakolam(manaikolam) for the occasion. I had no clue how to prepare the kola maavu even, let alone drawing the kolam. Thanks to the internet, I somehow managed to do it and the next day, when Hari’s relatives came to our home, their eyes popped out on seeing the kolam. They all showered me with appreciations for the kolam.

The function was a grandeur and everyone was so happy. All our relatives, especially Hari’s athimber was admiring me left, right and middle, saying that I did everything single-handedly, without seeking any help from any of them, at this young age :-)

My mom was so worried about me knowing nothing, during my wedding. Now, on seeing how I managed a function and on hearing how much am being admired, she feels really relieved.

All our relatives loved the house. We had placed a lot of flowers in vases and the highlight was a small fountain on the breakfast nook. Everyone was so happy to see a plantain tree in the backyard and it bore a hanging cluster of flower/raw bananas, which they said is an auspicious sign. And only on that day, we came to know that there was a rose hibiscus plant in the backyard. Hari’s athai was so overjoyed. She plucked some flowers and we placed them on the idols for the occasion. We were so happy to see those, when we cannot see even houses in India with hibiscus plants any more.

The function wouldn’t have been such a breeze without my ever-supporting amazing husband. God knows how many boxes he lifted. I was at a point so worried that I would loose my chubby husband for a lean one :-)

The neighborhood seems to be pretty good. The very first day when we went there, we were greeted by a neighbor’s kid Cameron. He shook our hands and said “Hello, welcome neighbors” and introduced himself and told us which home he lives in. It just took us by surprise. We felt so welcoming. We met another kid Jason and they took our permission before coming in to our house to look around. Its amazing how courteous they are. Another neighbor, a couple, greeted us the first day and was so friendly. The next day, they knocked on our door and gave us a bouquet of flowers from their backyard and invited us to their home for tea. Such is our neighborhood.

We have been living in our house for a week now. We are still trying to figure out which remote is for what, which switch is for which light and which key is for what lock.

It feels so pleasant to be in the house. We are able to sleep so well in the night. It’s a very happy house. And we look forward to seeing many many happy occasions in 1160 Gilbert Ct.