Meet the lady who created world’s largest rangoli

Vijaya Mohan recollects how she would love to watch her mother create rangoli designs at her native place in Tiruchy. She would be fascinated by the process of creating it. “Since the age of five I would observe my mother creating rangoli carefully. I started trying different designs, mediums and even visited neighbours to observe their drawings and try to improve on it, even whilst in school. I took part in many local rangoli competitions and won several prizes,” she says. 

After marriage she moved to Mumbai and here she had a chance to draw rangoli for big establishments like Shanmukhananda Sabha (a 3,000 seater auditorium) for a larger audience, President’s Hotel, Nehru Planetarium, Dharma Kshetra and other such places. 

“I moved to Singapore in 1993 and since then have done thousands of rangoli demos in Singapore but started documenting about them only from 1999. I have displayed at all major commercial, social and art establishments as well as numerous Schools, colleges and community centres,” she tells us. 

She also explains how she loves the whole process of creating designs, using colours and the joy of seeing the completed rangoli. “It is not difficult but requires a certain perseverance. I believe one need not know art to make rangoli. Rather a person who doesn’t know it is a better learner since he or she doesn’t come with any pre-conceived notions,” she explains. 

Talking about her unique distinction of creating world’s largest rangoli and her Guinness World Record, she says, “I was so excited when Whampoa Community Centre in Singapore encouraged me to take up the challenge in 2003. It was laborious to create the rangoli without any break but at the end of it, when I did it I felt so happy. It was very satisfying.”