I was sharing with some friends the other day that I grew up in a predominantly south Indian area of Delhi where every morning mamis could be seen painting kolams outside their homes Gone are the days of rice flour when dry or wet kolams edged with a paste of powdered bricks were the norm and all that was needed was the deft wrist and an understanding of geometry – geometry because the mamis would create an intricate code of tiny dots that only they could crack and create the kollam around it. Entire front yards would be painted on special days like the Navratri or Deepawali, on days of gollu where toys and dolls are decorated in step like installations in south Indian households. The sizes of the kollams may have reduced but I think the fervor still persists.
But then India does have an amazing tradition of floor and wall paintings right from Rajasthan downwards where the Shekhawati frescos are legendry. From Gujarat are the two dimensional mirror encrusted mandnas from the Kutch region, Madhya Pradesh tribal belts having some simple but beautiful traditional designs. Any reference to wall paintings can’t be complete without taking into account Bihar and Jharkhand and the exquisite kohbar paintings that are popularly known as Madhubanis. In Orissa the lowly jharoo or broom is dipped in a weak lime paste to create bouquet like designs on the walls.
All the four states in the south Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala have their beautiful kolams that have triggered off this reverie in the first place! I have seen some really exquisite alpanas from Bengal during puja that have inspired many of the Shantiniketan batiks (or is it the other way round ) and I was even more surprised to find pretty alpanas under many trees in the Shantiniketan campus on any given day. All these memories bring a smile and I am filed with pride about the Indian cultural mores and ethos – yet again.
And I can understand why Stephan Huyler wrote and photographed the tome on Indian wall and floor paintings. My household has seems to have overlooked the minor fact that Diwali is over (thank God!) but is still persisting in painting the house in multi colours thanks to the large cache of dry rangoli powder they have discovered in the local market. It is rangoli time everyday with the chauffer, maid, cook, sister, niece all huddled over some or the other complex design that they want to create – with each wanting the other’s colours! I am often invoked to play referee when the choice of specific colours are in controversy. But then rangoli or alpana or kollam is the latest home art fad this season in urban areas. How could my house stay unaffected!
The market abounds in several variations of floor art. Unlike earlier when alpana meant white, now vibrant colours like green, purple, pink, yellow, blue, orange are very easily available. These dry colours come with a plethora of round net screens rather like the sieves used for flour. Here the colours are filled in the sieve and the sieve gently dusted on the floor for the colour to spread its magic! These can be used with wet colours as well. Here the technique involves dipping a sponge in colour and going over the screen softly. None needs to be a Husain or a Picasso to do this and still express yourself creatively.
I recall how a craftsman would come to our house every few months with bamboo reeds perforated with designs that could be filled with fine marble dust, rice flour, and wheat flour and then the filled reed would be rolled on to the floor, resulting in beautiful designs. In Mumbai I found a more easy option where shallow plastic trays are filled with dry colours and dusted with a gentle thud and the result was similar to the perforated reed designs.
In addition, many easy do-it-yourself options have been put in place: The market is flooded with rangoli stickers in beautiful designs in monochromes and multi colours in varying shapes and sizes that are great options in case art is not your forte. And if you don’t care for semi permanence, there are transparent soft acrylic sheets with jewels encrusted rangolis rather like kundan work stuck on them that can be placed anywhere including the dining table or side tables to give it a festive look without any mess. The non stone encrusted rangolis are another option that are neatly painted on stiff transparent acrylic sheets rather like coasters in different shapes that allow only the design to be seen and can be juxtaposed with appropriate table linen. By the way, this is via Thailand and for a change not China!
Dr Alka Raghuvanshi is an art writer, curator and artist and can be contacted on alkaraghuvanshi@yahoo.com
