Vintage Verandah Lamps

As per the dictionary, Verandah is the covered entrance along the exterior of a shop or a house. It can also be termed as big gallery or terrace on the same plane as the ground floor. It is said to have originated from two native Indian languages, Hindi and Bengali, baranda, but in reality it is just an altered copy of Portuguese and older Spanish veranda which is a balustrade or balcony.

Since time immemorial, foreign forces like the Muslims, Dutch, Portuguese and the English have invaded India; she has adopted the different traditions brought in by these invading forces. These traditions are now incorporated in Indian architecture, which eventually developed as a fusion of the east and the west culture.

In the Oxford English Dictionary, the second meaning of Verandah is a covering built at the side of the building, particularly one built over the street outside the trading site found particularly in Australia and New Zealand. There is yet another meaning to this word in the dictionary, it is, an open porch extending in the front and the sides of a building, giving protection against the sun and the rain. The decisive origin of this word is most probably European or maybe Latin meaning barra-, which means barrier.

The traditional Verandah has been in existence from another era bygone. There are some typical features found in the verandah of those times.

The vintage verandah was typically a meeting place for the family at dusk when the family members returned home from their respective jobs. It was the traditional place where people sat in the privacy of their homes yet could see the road and exchange pleasantries with the neighbors or passersby. It was the place in the house, which gave you a view to the outside world.

Lighting in that era was on electricity. The lamps were very simply structured and very practical in appearance and usage. The lamps seen in the verandah had to be durable and sturdy since they were exposed to the various vagaries of the climatic fluctuations like rain, storm and heat. They were simple in appearance and very cost effective.

Thus the lamps used in the verandahs had to be practical in shape and strong enough to take the fluctuations in the climate in their stride.

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