Make white rangoli powder home for Diwali

How to make white rangoli powder at home 

Take a flat plate and a sieve

 Take three measures of white rangoli powder

 Sieve it well

 Coarse particles are left behind

 Remove the coarse particles and mix the fine particles with a spoon or ladle

 Now add one measure of rice flour

Add the rice flour to the filtered white rangoli 

Mix both well thoroughly so that they blend well

The rangoli powder is ready for Diwali rangoli . This combination gives the advantages of white rangoli powder and rice flour i.e rangoli powder gives us continuous lines and thin lines , rice flour will give brightness

What is the alternate when white rangoli powder is not available  online.  In countries like USA and UK , I think they get colours but not white rangoli powder.  My solution to this problem is very simple.  Mix rice flour and powdered salt  ( table salt as we also say ) in the ratio 1: 1 and mix well and thoroughly the result is a rangoli powder which offers the advantages of traditional rangoli powder like free flow not getting stuck up etc.  Pure rice flour is the most naturalistic way of drawing a rangoli , as kolam were drawn long back.  The only problem is that because of its fineness it is difficult to push the rice flour and the lines are discontinuous. Next - Eco friendly rangoli powder with salt and rice flour 

Take rice flour and salt ( powdered ) in a container in the ratio 1:1.  Mix them well so that they form a ( homogeneous ) mixture.  The next picture shows rangoli being drawn with this mixture.  This will be particularly useful in USA and UK where we do not get white rangoli powder.  ( One of the viewers in my YouTube Channel told me that rangoli powder is not available even in countries like Dubai ).  It is the Middle East for those living in USA>

The only disadvantage in this method is that we can not sprinkle water before drawing the rangoli ( as an alternate we can clean the floor well with a clean towel ) because some or all of the salt may melt !

Try this eco friendly method of creating a rangoli for Diwali.

Colour rangoli powder at home for festivals

While I purchase colour rangoli , there is a tradition of making yellow colour rangoli powder by mixing rangoli powder and turmeric powder for auspicious occasions like wedding, house warming functions and festivals like Sankranti , Varalakshmi Vratham , Navratri , Ugadi.  The turmeric powder added depends upon the darkness in yellow we need , so the ratio can vary.

 The kolam serves the purpose of giving food for insects , to keep insects and small animals at bay .  The kolam was drawn with rice flour in the kitchen at night because stoves were lit with firewood and some insects used to hide in the embers.  These insects probably gave out toxic or noxious fumes ( though only a little ) when the stove was lit the next day for cooking.  Probably to avoid this and to draw out the insects from their hiding place, kolam was drawn at the cooking place ( this place was also poorly lit in those days because they had only oil  lit lamps or at the most incandescent bulbs ) .  Also because there was no light above the stoves because that was occupied by the chimneys to take out smoke coming out of the fire wood.

So due to these reasons i.e avoiding insects in the stove or insects inadvertently falling into the cooked food , kolam was probably drawn before the stove at night ( most of the insects are nocturnal !) Even today we have this tradition of drawing kolam before the gas stove at night !

Rangoli powder ( white and colours ) are available in many shops and are available on line also.  I get the rangoli colour powder from Nagpur where my elder sister lives.  I live in Tamil Nadu , I find that the colours from Nagpur are excellent and spread beautifully and evenly.   Probably it is true for many other parts of the country and for some places in Tamil Nadu also.  Since my elder sister lives in Nagpur ( I learnt rangoli from her and my mother ) , I have no problems she sends it either through courier or she brings it when she comes to Tamil Nadu.

There are many requests on my YouTube channel to post a video on how to make rangoli colors at home.  I think I will have to find some ecofriendly method , if possible on how to make these colors at home itself.  There are many options including dyes (Salem in Tamil Nadu is know for these ) but I want to try something natural and something different.  Hope I get a good idea