Rain on the kolam, three days before Deepavali
A wet step, a red ochre border and a row of clay lamps for Sunday.
A free letter, on the 5th of every month
The Dawn Kolam
One letter on the 5th of every month: a kolam to learn, step by step, and the festival that month brings.
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NextSat 5 DecemberMargazhi at dawn: the big kolam begins
- Sun 5 April
The new year tray and the Puthandu kolam
Puthandu is nine days away: the tray I set the night before, and the first kolam.
- Tue 5 May
The May heat and the hour before sunrise
Chennai reaches forty by nine, so the flour goes down at five and the jasmine after.
- Fri 5 June
The sikku kolam, where the line ties itself in knots
One unbroken line that loops around the dots and comes home. Eleven steps, drawn slowly.
- Sun 5 July
Aadi Fridays at the Amman temple
The month of Aadi starts in a fortnight, with koozh, neem leaves and many flowers.
- Wed 5 August
A row of lamps, drawn in flour
A chain of lamp shapes along the threshold, drawn from the doorway outward.
- Sat 5 September
A lotus with eight petals, for the clay Ganesha
Chaturthi is nine days off, so here is the lotus in the order I teach it.
- Mon 5 October
Golu steps and the kolam at the foot of them
Navaratri begins on Sunday: where the lamp goes and how wide to draw.
- Thu 5 November
Rain on the kolam, three days before Deepavali
A wet step, a red ochre border and a row of clay lamps for Sunday.
- Sat 5 DecemberNext
Margazhi at dawn: the big kolam begins
- Tue 5 January
The Pongal pot and the kolam around it
- Fri 5 February
The sun’s chariot with seven horses
- Fri 5 March
A year of dawns: what my hand learned
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Latest letters
Golu steps and the kolam at the foot of them
Navaratri begins on Sunday: where the lamp goes and how wide to draw.
A lotus with eight petals, for the clay Ganesha
Chaturthi is nine days off, so here is the lotus in the order I teach it.
About
Hello, I’m Padma
I live in Chennai, and every morning before the street wakes I draw a kolam in rice flour on my doorstep. My mother did it, and her mother. I have been drawing at this step for thirty-four years, and no two mornings have been the same.
The letters follow the year. Each month there is a pattern, drawn step by step, and the festival that belongs to it, from Pongal in January to the dawn kolams of Margazhi in December. I teach the practice, patiently, and I leave the rest to you.
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