Hello again, happy Wednesday!
Lately I’ve been really overwhelmed with the world. Although my last post praised the gloominess of March, I’ve fallen victim to it myself, it seems. I miss my summer job where I work with plants in the sun all day, and I find myself counting down the days to the end of the semester. Despite this negative mindset, I’m sticking with the knowledge that it’s all temporary. It’s okay to feel an ebb and flow in motivation, to occasionally spend the entire day daydreaming about where you wish you were, or a fake world you made up. It’s a rainy, gross day out, and sometimes you need to reserve time to listen to sad music alone (or even cry). At the end of the day, we keep moving forward! Spring is here, and we will (eventually) see the sunlight. To my fellow students who also lack motivation, keep going, and make sure you take plenty of breaks and take care of yourselves.
Good afternoon everybody! I hope that you all are doing well! I had a wonderful weekend that I wanted to share with you all. Yesterday was Holi, the Festival of Colors, my absolutely favorite Hindu festival. We all get together, wear white, and play tag with colorful powder, adorning each other in beautiful hues of pink, orange, yellow, blue, red, and more. If you are interested in reading more about Holi check out my post 
In this post, I wanted to share something else besides Holi. A few weeks back, I was presented with a beautiful opportunity. I was hired by the Ypsilanti Public Library to demonstrate and teach young kids and families how to make Rangoli. Rangoli is the art of adorning pavements and house floors with colored powder or fine colored sand. Traditionally, during holidays, homes and temples are decorated with beautiful mandalas. Generally, natural and pure products are used to create these beautiful designs. When I did Rangoli this time, I used fine colored sand in squeeze bottles to make intricate designs. We decided this could be the best form of creating the Rangoli because it is easy to handle by children.
This was a really wonderful day. I demonstrated how Rangoli is made, creating original designs on the floor of the library. Kids watched and then were allowed to go wild, using the bright colors to create their own abstract and wonderful creations. The kids, of all ages ranging from toddlers to pre-teens, were very sweet, loved learning about the history of Rangoli, and created their own wonderful art!
