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| Girls work on their rangoli at the competition organised by Rabindra Parishad in Patna on Sunday. Picture by Ranjeet Kumar Dey |
Patna, May 29: Around 100 participants kept alive their cultural legacy with colourful designs at a rangoli competition organised in the state capital today.
The competition, another component of the year-long celebrations of Rabindranath Tagore’s 150th birth anniversary, was organised on the premises of Rabindra Parishad. The contestants, varying from school students to homemakers, played with colours and designs, albeit on white paper.
Forty-five-year-old homemaker Madhumita Bhowal, one of the participants today, showed her deft skill in the traditional art form. Madhumita, engrossed in her design, came up with a rangoli quite different from the crowd. She designed a pot-like structure, which was only bordered in black.
Playing with the contrasting colours of black and white, Madhumita chose to outline her design but not to colour her work. “If used properly, black and white can be elements of fine artistry. I mostly use these two, rather than multiple, colours. It also gives a mystical nature to the design,” she said.
Madhumita added she has excelled in this art form after years of rangoli design practice. “During Lakshmi Puja, my siblings and I were assigned the job to make rangolis on the doorsteps of our house and in front of the prayer room. The excitement among us used to be so infectious that we bathed early in the morning to get ready for the celebrations. We used to compete with each other to prove ourselves the best and get appreciation for our creativity,” Madhumita said, adding that the rangoli competition organised by Rabindra Parishad is yet another attempt to get appreciation for her work.
The organisers, as with the other competitions, came up with themes, including “As you like”, designing four corners of a tablecloth, designing a bed cover, a salwar kameez, for different groups of contestants. The senior category (anybody above Class X) was given the theme — “Alpona of festivals”.
Eighteen-year-old Prithvi Ranjit, another contestant in the senior category, filled in his designed blocks with bright shades of red, blue, green, yellow and purple.
“Rangoli is an integral part of Hindu festivals. Our festivals are flamboyant, so I have used the colours that can define the lively mood of our festivals,” said Prithvi, who is a student of National Institute of Design in Ahmedabad.
Deepika Tarafdar, a student of Commerce College in the city, gave an auspicious touch to her rangoli with a design of aampallav (mango leaves) atop a pot filled with water.
She also incorporated banana plants, an integral part in many rituals, in her design and finished with a butterfly.
Kamal Preeti, 26, took up floral designs in her rangoli that also had intricate minakari work on the corners. Other contestants incorporated designs of peacock, swastika, Om and Ganesha in their rangolis.
Asked why a rangoli competition was planned as part of Tagore’s 150th birth anniversary, Provas Roy, the general secretary of Rabindra Parishad and convener of the programme, said: “Designing rangolis is part of our legacy. It also gives us a glimpse into Tagore’s thoughts, as you will find every festival in Shantiniketan marked with the colourful designs of the rangoli.”
Roy added: “We have limited the competition to sheets of paper instead of the floor, as we did not want any chance of confusion in arriving at the results. We will declare the results along with the winning design so that everyone can see why a particular rangoli has been adjudged the best.”
The results of the rangoli competition, along with the rest of the events being organised by Rabindra Parishad, would be declared in August after the competitions are organised in the districts.