Sikku Kolam - 32

Sikku kolam done with wet rice paste. For a final touch, I have added a colour border for enhancement. After drawing this kolam my ring finger's nail tip got disappeared. Then after trial and error method, I learnt to draw maakolam without sacrificing my finger nail. Drawing maakolam on cement floor needs some expertise tips to safeguard the nail tip. The knack of knowing the perfect angle of finger touching the ground without much damage comes with practice.

During my college days, I have drawn kolams using wet rice paste. Once I visited my friend's home in Kancheepuram - The silk city of Tamilnadu, during Pongal to see and feel the atmosphere of a bullfight in person. The manju viratu or the bull chase venue was one hour ride from Kancheepuram. We were standing at a safe distance. I wasn't much excited about the event. Coming to the point, for Pongal festival the long corridors, verandas are decorated with maakolams - Kolams drawn using wet rice paste. As my friend knew that I draw kolams she insisted me to draw.. The medium was new to me, I had never used wet rice paste to draw kolam, but with confidence I started to draw, of course, I drew sikku kolams only. It took long painstaking hours to fill up all the whole place. And I had the pain in my ring finger which mattered nothing when her parents and relatives were delighted about the white lines dancing all over their home, I was on cloud nine. After that debut performance, though I drew maakolam but didn't have much time to master the strokes.

Dot count: 15x9-9x3