A Kolam Every Morning — Epoche A1
My neighbour came from Tamil Nadu forty years ago. She is seventy now. Every morning at half past five she washes the ground in front of her door, and then she draws on it. She takes rice flour between her thumb and one finger and lets it fall. Dots first, then lines around the dots. Ten minutes. It is called a kolam. By the afternoon it is gone. The ants carry it away, and the birds take the rest. It is flour, not paint, and the ants are part of the reason for it. Tomorrow at half past five she will draw a different one.