Rangolis for Diwali



The Diwali, the festival of light, is the Indian equivalent of Christmas.  It is very commercial and husbands are expected to buy jewellery for their wives, so its not much fun for the men folk!
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This year we were in our new offices in the Metro Depot and we decided to have a Rangoli competition.  Rangolis are also known as a kolam or a muggu and are a form of folk art using coloured sand rice, flour, petals to create artwork to welcome gods into the home. They form a central role in religious observance in Mumbai and in India more broadly.




The teams hard at work

 All the Senior Management were judges for the Rangoli competition including the expatriates Managers. An area in our foyer was set aside for the competition and the teams, most of whom were in traditional dress, were given an area consisting of four floor tiles to create their Rangoli. Based on the expatriate's  inability to predict the winners it could be reasonably suggested that we were not in a position to judge!.













Figure depicting the offering of a gee lamp

A Rangoli is an illustration made with coloured sand.  We had 12 teams of 2-4 people who had two hours to form their Rangoli. It was amazing to watch them work, using small funnels to free hand pour the sand to form the intricate figures and patterns on the tile floor













Some didn't do much to ignite my festive spirit



Some Rangolis had strong themes such as selective abortion of female fetus’, a practice that was common in India, or rape which is very topical in the international media.  I found these Rangolis a little grim given the festive nature of Diwali, the festival of light.

















These are the type of Rangoli you most
frequently see in homes


Other Rangolis were the more traditional circular patterns and spirals while others drew on colorful scenes incorporating people or peacocks.














My favourite.  The detail was amazing


The skill or our staff in producing them was amazing.  They had obviously been taught while young and had practiced over many years.  To them it seemed no more a challenge than me decorating a Christmas tree!

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