A Pattern from a Paatti.

There was once a little boy aged about 9 or 10, who loved to be a little different from the rest. He absolutely loved the company of other little boys and enjoyed playing sports with them, but was also interested to learn some tricks, tips and trades from the alien species - the girls !

Forever curious to learn simple recipies from his mom, competing to try cross-stich from his sister , he wondered why should the girls have a few skills of their own, which no boy tries to learn. Why do the boys and men conveniently avoid learning some very interesting things,
labelling them as 'Pombalainga samaachaaram"(Ladies stuff) ?

With these thoughts, he sat with his paternal grandmother to learn a quintessential Indian-Ladies'art of drawing 'Kolam' - intricate geometric patterns with dotted references and connecting lines, forming a beautiful design, usually adorning the floor near the entrance of a
typical Indian home. Before he could run away to play cricket with his gang of friends, his 'Nainamma' taught him amongst others, a very simple but elegant Kolam called the Idhayakkamalam (Lotus of Hearts), and told him in a rather serious tone that its important that this auspicious kolam, which had the power to bring prosperity to a household, should not be
stepped on when its on the floor. 

Years passed, and so did stages of life. We had just moved in to an apartment in a high floor, with easy view of the open skies. When my wife declared that she is going to try drawing a kolam with rice-dough on occasion of Karthikai Deepam, I volunteered to enrich her knowledge of kolams :-)

Today, an almost perfect (!) Idhayakkamalam can be found at the entrance of my apartment.
A family tradition that was 'ladies stuff', got passed on to Gen-Next by once-a-little-boy.
I snapped pics as my wife created it, and skipped over the kolam to avoid smudging it.
And Mrs.Varadhambal Rajabather smiled from above, seeing her lovely old kolam yet again !