From Mrs.Kakoli Karmakar in distant America came an order for a spectacular, long jhumka, preferably with an extended jhalor. But, there were weight constraints (the jhumkas couldn't be too heavy o...

From Mrs.Kakoli Karmakar in distant America came an order for a spectacular, long jhumka, preferably with an extended jhalor. But, there were weight constraints (the jhumkas couldn't be too heavy on the ear ; tanas were out) and we were hard put to balance the operatic with a certain degree of reservation. Also, Kakoli had left to us the entire detailing once she'd chosen the design from the sketches sent her.

For hours on end, as day turned to night, we sat, thinking up the proportions, volume and infill, praying for a solution. The aspect of drama and incident became crucial and quite inseparable from the basic structure of the ornament. Textural modulations and surface embellishments alone wouldn't do. It had to be an epic, in moderation.

And then, by Mariamma's grace, we were gifted a pair of delicate little rain clouds, entirely embroidered in gold with rings and bindis, rickrack, and rows of ball beads. She came, wearing them on her ears, each held with a single open saluk-phul to her pashas whose motifs were identical to the decorations on the clouds. She smiled, unfastened the Mehuli, and gave them to us. The slumberous night awoke to the sound of rumbling thunder and streaks of lightning were seen garlanding the dark sky, celebrating the return of the Goddess to her celestial home. It began to rain ; but this was not any ordinary rain ; it was our rain ; the night-rain of our very own Mehuli.

To immortalize that rapturous moment, we recreated it in the loose lengths of fine bichha chains intermittently dotted with chumkis that glitter whenever the earrings sway. A couple of split ball jhumurs at the end of each strand of golden rain weigh the chains down to prevent them tangling and emit a lovely, faint tintinnabulation that delights continually.

Handcrafted with much thought and even greater love, in pure 22K yellow gold, the jhumkas have been imparted a light gero polish to evoke a sense of ela mati wetted by nocturnal rain.

Be certain : The one who wears Mehuli, is the Goddess of Rain.