The Art of Kolams- II

This sequel comes a little late. In the first part of the Kolam series that appeared on June 6, I had promised to talk to you more about Kolams in the next week itself. But unfortunately, I had broken my word and gone on to speak on different issues. For those of you who were eagerly awaiting the next instalment, my apologies first for making you wait long. Well, here we go...

In the previous article, I had told you about how Kolams originated and how instrinsically scientific their creation was. Usually kolams are drawn with powdered rice flour or chalk powder. Sometimes, for festive occassions like weddings or christenings, the rice flour is mixed with water and the paste is used to draw the kolam. Powdered brick acts as beautiful borders. The southern cities of Madurai and Tirunelveli boast of the most complicated designs and well-finished kolams.

Drawing Kolams on your porch was almost de riguer for the South Indian girl. But nowadays, with the advent of high-rise buildings and boxed apartments, it is a sad fact that Kolams have taken the back seat. The amusing thing that has caught my eye is the ready-made sticker that is available in the market. The sticker is a transparent one that has a kolam drawn on it; you just peel of the wrapper and stick it on your floor.. And voila, you have a beatuiful creation right on your dorrstep.

But somehow as with all artifices, Kolam stickers too lack that essential something. The spirit of concentration when you carefully join the dots and the sense of achievement when you see the white lines shaping up into a delicate and fragile design...

Some households and most other temples in South India take special pride in their hand-drawn kolams that span the length and breadth of the courtyard. The design would have been wholly made by joining together dots that have been placed at geometrically spaced positions. There's an easy way to do this. Create a stencil with a soft cardboard by punching holes in it in a 20 x 20 matrix. Make sure the holes approximately 4 " apart and are spaced at equal distances. You can then spread the rice flour or powdered chalk on the sheet and remove it gently to get dots that are a joy to behold.

If you would like to create a bigger version of your favourite kolam, use the following formula:

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