Latest news with #TamilHindu
Newsweek
11-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Newsweek
Neighbor Intrigued by Woman's Mysterious Artwork on Doorway: 'What Is It?'
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. A post about intricate floral chalk drawings outside a neighbor's doorway has gone viral on social media. Shared by Reddit user u/capnricky, the post has garnered over 15,000 upvotes and hundreds of comments since it was uploaded on July 9 in the r/whatisit subreddit. The post, titled "My neighbor has been doing this at her doorway once a week for the past few weeks. It's beautiful, but what is it?", includes photographs of distinct symmetrical patterns drawn on the ground outside a doorway. The chalk or powder drawings change weekly, each featuring elaborate designs resembling flowers and other natural motifs. The caption says that the Reddit user sees a new design each morning and has made a habit of photographing them, planning to compile the images into a photo album for their neighbor. "I don't want to culturally offend," the user wrote, adding: "It's really pretty, and I do my best to keep my 5 yo [year old] twins away from it." Other Reddit users in the comments quickly identified the mysterious artwork as kolam, a traditional South Indian art form that dates back generations. A pinned comment by user u/Cheekbish read: "It's actually called a Kolam—an art form from the southern part of India and drawn on the ground using rice powder or chalk. It's said to bring good luck, positivity, and prosperity." Kolam is a folk tradition deeply rooted in Tamil Nadu. An October 2023 article in IRE Journals describes it as an intergenerational practice based on geometric symmetry and creative interpretation. The artist draws with chalk or charcoal, beginning with a grid of dots known as pulli, which are then connected by looping or straight lines to form complex, symmetrical patterns. The article says, "The artist uses his imagination to create an image that represents what he wants to draw," often coloring the design using natural pigments or watercolor paints. Kolam is more than decorative—it holds daily and spiritual significance in Tamil culture. The Indian nonprofit Sahapedia outlines the practice as a "daily women's ritualistic art form created by Tamil Hindu women throughout Tamil Nadu in southeastern India." The designs are typically drawn at dawn and sometimes again at dusk, especially during Brahma muhurta, a period believed to be auspicious for spiritual activity. "Each day before dawn … millions of women in the towns, villages, and cities of Tamil Nadu (and Pondicherry) draw kōlam on the thresholds and floors of houses, temples, and businesses," Sahapedia notes. "In Tamil culture, the threshold is of great significance as the meeting point of the internal and the external." These "threshold designs," Sahapedia adds, symbolize beauty, divinity, and good fortune. Traditionally, they are drawn with finely ground rice powder, though chalk or stone powder is often mixed in for durability and cost-saving. The technique requires precise control and rhythm, as the powder is carefully released between the fingers in a continuous flow. The result is a transient artwork, often swept away and redrawn daily, in keeping with its ritual nature. 'Amazing' Reddit users applauded the unique artwork and the original poster's respectful curiosity. U/estcaroauteminfirma posted, "Amazing is what it is," and u/Official_Business_ wrote: "They're beautiful." U/Infiniscroll commented: "I love this form of art. It shows the shape of the mind in some intriguing ways. They are also very mathematical!" U/Nice_Marketing_9252 noted: "So if OP [the original poster] takes pictures every day and makes album like he/she says, then Kolam will actually work because it will already bring positivity. Maybe others will follow." U/PresidentMeeseeks added: "It's so thoughtful of you to want to give her an album of her Kolam patterns! I'm a South Indian living abroad and it's gestures like these that encourage us to integrate with our new communities. Also, look out for her designs on festival dates. Those would be even more elaborate and pretty." Newsweek has contacted the original poster for comment via the Reddit messaging system. Stock image: A woman creates a kolam drawing on the ground. Stock image: A woman creates a kolam drawing on the ground. Getty Do you have a culture or art-related video or story to share? Let us know via life@ and your story could be featured on Newsweek.
Time of India
07-05-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Indian-origin Raja Krishnamoorthi launches Senate bid in Illinois: 'To stand up to Donald Trump'
Raja Krishnamoorthi has launched his Senate bid in Illinois. Who is Illinois Democrat Raja Krishnamoorthi? Rep Raja Krishnamoorthi has announced his run for Illinois' open Senate seat and said all through his career, he has stood up to bullies and now it's time to do the same to the Donald Trump administration. The race is open as senator Dick Dutrbin announced his retirement.'I've made a career of standing up to bullies in Congress, and now we have to stand up to Donald Trump, who's in the way of people realizing they're full economic potential,' Krishnamoorthi said to POLITICO. 'It's the number one agenda item for a lot of people: to stand up to Donald Trump, not back down and make sure that we get our government back working for the people.''Whoever the next senator is has to continue Senator Durbin's incredible legacy of representing the entire state in the U.S. Senate,' Krishnamoorthi said. 'As somebody who's from downstate, who represents the suburbs and who's worked in the city for many years, I think that I bring some of the qualities necessary to represent the full breadth of what it means to be an Illinoisan.'A staunch Trump critic, Krishnamoorthi has a long career in was deeply involved in the first impeachment of Donald Trump in 2019. He attended Donald Trump's inauguration in 2017 because he said he wanted President Trump "to look at the crowd and Congress and see on day one that he will be strongly opposed if he continues to pursue policies that hurt working families".Born in India into a Tamil Hindu family, Raja Krishnamoorthi came to the US when he was three months old as his father attended graduate school in the US. Krishnamoothi attended Princeton University where he earned mechanical engineering summa cum laude. Then he received a Juris Doctor with honors from Harvard Law School. His early career included clerking for a federal judge, working on Barack Obama's 2000 House and 2004 Senate campaigns.
