The Intricate Design

Over the years I've gained interest on fields like languages, science behind gods, ethics n all of that. I know it's sounds boring but it's worth to dig deep .

Coming to the topic of the day. It all started when I was in my 6th std . Being the class leader and as myhouse teacher's pet I got myself easily into the pongal kolam competition . I knew nothing except mixing the fairest kolam podi with cute concentrated colour powders. Somehow we won the competition and got one big daba( box) as a gift to store our kola podis.

And this is where my story begins .

One week after the competition was pongal ,the harvest festival . I had decided to put my very own kolam at our premises

I guess I started well. It was a rangoli obviously with pots indicating that its actually pongal the next day . Honestly it wasn't so good but I still appreciate my family for mocking my design.

Years flew by and I became one famous kolam artist in my street . Yes its true , i was the tiniest of the lot and did create my incredible arts all alone .

My amma always use to roast me for putting kolams during night as it was an ritual to put kolam during brahma muhurtham ( believed to be the time when brahma and all other deities defend to the earth).

In kolam ,the process of getting destroyed is simple. There's always these street dogs who always want to walk my my vibrant art and mess with with me or my very own brothers stepping on it to irritate me .

Jokes apart I visualize kolam as a performance in which tradition and change exist simultaneously. There are various methods and designs to put a kolam but making all sides symmetrical is stilla task .

Thereareseveral types of kolam designs - line kolams, the free hand drawing of lines to make a geometrical pattern.Pulli(dots) are arranged in a specific sequence and order & these pullis are joined to make pictorial designs.

In pulli kolams, there are two types a)joining the dots with straight lines to create the pattern. B)forming of twisted chains by linking one loop with the next & forming wonderful designs. This is called Neli, chikku, sikku, kambi or chuzhi kolam.

The other type is rangoli ,which doesn't involve the usage of dots .

After7 years of my kolam history i have finally decided to quit using colour powders basically to reduce pollution . The concept of kolam has been miss understood by many . It's not only an art ritualistic art but more than that.

Bye.