Medley of Motley

Hello friends! Last night I was having a conversation with my mother about Diwali, which is almost round the corner. We were discussing what new to do this year, food items to prepare, how to decorate our homes and other stuff. One such discussion was about rangoli. Most of the Indian ladies love to make colourful rangolis in their home's courtyard for this auspicious occasion. With all the various colours, sparkles, flowers, rangolis look so beautiful. I was discussing which rangoli to make this year at my home when I got an idea, why not share some easy-to-make rangoli designs on my blog?

Usually rangolis in India, except for the Southern part, are either flower designs or some other abstract designs. But we Andhraites, make traditional rangolis where the outline is of dots rather than just lines. We then connect the dots to make different designs. Dots are also of different types, either box design, or one opposite other or one in between two. Box design rangolis are the easiest ones to make. Here I am to share some step-by-step process to make beautiful traditional rangoli designs. The first rangoli that we are going to learn is this:




 I can't wait anymore to demonstrate the method so lets get started! This rangoli is a box design type which consists of six square dots like below:




Now that we have marked the centre, lets draw four lines on the sides leaving a gap of one dot on each side as shown below:




So far we have marked the centre as well as the base line for the outer design. Next, we need to connect them both like below:




Now, we have connected them both, you can see there's an opening on all sides. This doesn't look good so we will close them as shown in the below image:




And then, lets make flower like shapes as below:




And there you go. The rangoli is ready. Now go wild with colours and fill it up. You can also fill it with flowers, sparkles or use your imagination to what can be more interesting. I shall share some more rangoli posts soon so please do come back. Till then:

Keep smiling as it is the curve which straightens everything in life... :)