The Floor Is Yours

The Floor Is Yours

Rangoli is an integral part of any Indian festival. Considered auspicious, the bright colours used in rangoli are not only pleasing and therapeutic but also symbolic. While white stands for purity and safety, red symbolises strength and energy. Yellow is for freshness and orange symbolises sacrifice and so on. So are you ready to make your home more vibrant and cheerful? We bring you some attractive rangoli designs just in time for Diwali.  

Colour combination is the key
Kailash Khanjode has been professionally practising rangoli and canvas painting for the past five years. Apart from designer rangoli, he also makes hyper-realistic 3D rangoli. Says the artist, “I make normal size 3x4 ft rangoli. The highest I’ve made so far is 30x40 ft. I do not restrict myself to making round rangolis. I try to create different shapes as per the subject.”

Apart from rangoli powder, Khanjode uses salt and flowers to bring something new to his art. To make any rangoli stand out, one must have a good sense of colour combination. It decides what you are trying to convey through the art form. For any joyous occasion, he uses primary colours as they are symbolic. “No matter how detailed or fine rangoli you make, if you choose the wrong colour combinations, it will spoil the beauty of the rangoli,” says he, adding, “Beginners should not attempt complicated designs at once. Start with simple designs and bright colours to grab attention,” he says.

It is easy to play with the colour palette, however, it is more interesting to work with a single colour like white. It is important to keep the background in mind while working with white. It can be used to draw a complete rangoli with a little addition of hues on a plain background.

Khanjode says, “White works best on the ground or any single coloured surface. ‘Sanskar Bharti Rangoli’ or traditional rangoli looks best when it is made in white. To give it a more attractive and festive look, you can place diyas on the rangoli.”

For a rangoli with a hyper-realistic touch to it, Khanjode takes approximately four-and-a-half hours to complete. However, if he works with traditional designs of any shape or size, it takes him not more than an hour. He works independently on every rangoli.

Giving out a social message to people, Khanjode says, “Make sure you have an environment-friendly Diwali and follow the philosophy ‘less is more’.”

Pick fresh flowers
Ashwini Shashikant Gadkari, an IT engineer by profession and a rangoli maker by passion, has been making rangoli for the past 15 years. However, she has been practising floral rangoli since the last five years. 

“All the shapes and sizes that we use for rangoli made with powders can easily be incorporated in floral rangoli. It may vary though, depending on the theme and the culture. We also try to add various geometrical shapes,” says Gadkari.

Yellow and orange marigolds, broccoli flowers, roses, lilies and many other colourful and fragrant flowers are used to make floral rangoli. To get the details right, Gadkari does not make rangolis smaller than 8 ft. So far, her biggest rangoli has been 25 ft.

She does not use any other material for the fragrance, just the scent of fresh flowers. To keep the rangoli fresh for more than a day, she uses water spray and preservatives. One can follow the primary colour palette to bring freshness to the rangoli and add white flowers to make it more dramatic and spellbinding. 
 
“Anyone can make their rangoli attractive by choosing regular flowers like marigold or aster. Their size is convenient to begin with and one must make sure to draw circle or semi-circle rangoli. To brighten up the rangoli, one can place a big diya at the centre or small diyas around the rangoli,” says Gadkari.

“Another most convenient way of decorating your home for Diwali is by placing a decorative bowl with water. Pour fragrant oil or wax into it. Once it settles, place colourful flowers. Wax or oil keeps the balance and does not let the flowers sink,” she says.

Gadkari also takes orders for making rangoli. The rates begin at Rs 650 / 750 per feet, including materials. 

Keeping tradition alive
Somali Bhattacharya Ghosh, a graphic designer, makes alpana — a form of rangoli practised in Bengal. It’s a part of puja decor. While growing up she watched her mother and aunt making alpana and learnt the art from them. She was 12 when she made her first alpana and since then she has been creating beautiful designs. 

“The design and size depend on the alpana maker. However, it is important to keep the theme of the festival in mind and make the alpana accordingly,” says Ghosh, mother of a one-year-old. 

Traditionally, homemade rice powder is used to make the rangoli but Ghosh uses khari mati — calcium or chalk powder. Khari mati needs to be soaked in water for a day to get the right consistency suitable for the purpose. Just like other rangolis, alpana needs precision to stand out. It is made with the ring finger (for fine strokes), middle finger (for thick strokes) and nowadays people use cotton or brush also as it is more convenient. “I do not use brush to decorate the puja chowki. I like to follow tradition and as the ring finger is considered auspicious, I use it to design the chowki,” she says.

To keep it traditional yet interesting, she adds colour to khari mati. For yellow colour, she uses turmeric powder and for red, she uses sindoor (vermilion). She likes to keep it organic and rooted in culture. During Diwali, she puts diyas to enhance the beauty of the alpana. 

As she has an infant, she prefers a more convenient way to decorate her home during the festival. “I buy three different colours of marigold — orange, yellow and light yellow. I break them and make different designs. I also use flowers with fragrance such as roses. To add an additional fragrance, you can take a bowl and put lavender oil in it, mix it with water and add a few flowers to it. It will not only look beautiful but also smell good,” Ghosh says, adding, “Also, decorate the lesser considered areas of your home such as the corners. To actually give the house a makeover during festivals, I decorate the corners with flowers and put diyas to make sure that the entire place is well lit.”

To bring versatility to their rangoli, Ghosh says that one can use a combination of flowers and khari mati. To use khari mati in its original colour, one should keep the surface colour in mind as khari mati is white and it appears best on a dark surface.

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