Leave Siddhanti Parab alone with basic rangoli colours and
within a few minutes she will amaze you with her art work. “Can you do rangoli
art?” was her innocent question, “Because I can teach you how to put the
colours to form intricate rangoli designs,” she added. Interestingly, this
youngster has been teaching this art form to women trice her age because her
wish to spread the beauty of rangoli is her only concern.
Siddhanti, a resident of Bicholim, is the daughter of well known rangoli artist Arjun Parab. Currently studying at Goa College of Architecture, her friends were surprised to learn that their classmate was the recipient of the Mahatma Gandhi Vishwashanti International Award 2015. “Almost every weekend, my father and I give rangoli workshops. We are booked at least a month in advance. I start with the difficult techniques because once you pick the challenging methods, it is easy to do any rangoli. My father and I always do portraits of freedom fighters and Indian political leaders because they were secular in their views,” says the young artist.
Siddhanti is the daughter of Arjun and Sarita Parab and the younger sister of Shirang. Earlier, when Arjun conducted rangoli workshops, Siddhanti used to accompany him. At the age of five, she started doing her own rangoli and used to participate in competitions. By the age of seven, she learnt the art of drawing portraits using rangoli colours and at the age of eight, she started conducting rangoli workshops. “She was younger than the children coming to learn rangoli. After the workshop, she used to play with the same children. She took voluntary retirement from participating in competitions in 2007 and now judges competitions, mostly for the same students she taught at the workshops,” says Arjun, a bank employee by profession.
Every ‘Novo Somar’ in Bicholim, the Parab household puts up beautiful rangoli works at the Ravalnath Temple. Those who visit it the first time are so astonished that they have to come back; and it soon becomes an annual visit. “We take different current affair issues into account and draw a rangoli based on those events. We don’t show bias to any political party,” says Siddhanti. Some of Siddhanti’s feats include a 1,000 sq ft rangoli of Balkrishna in a marathon 30 hours at Sankhalim in 2007, a 3,500 sq ft rangoli of Swami Vivekanand in 41 hours at Bicholim in 2007 with just three hours of sleep and a 4,000 sq ft rangoli base on ‘Political Drama in Goa’ in 42 hours at Bicholim in 2008.
What sets Arjun and Siddhanti’s workshops apart from other workshops conducted in the state is that the colours and everything related to the art are provided free of cost to the participants and the course is conducted without fee. “Our sole purpose is to promote the art form and reach out to the maximum number of participants in the state and the neighbouring states of Maharashtra and Karnataka,” says Siddhanti.
Siddhanti was previously awarded the Kala Bhushan Award in 2012, Samrat Student of the Year 2010-2011, Samaj Prabodhan Award in Nashik in 2012 and the Samata National Award 2013 in Nashik. She is also the youngest Goan to complete an advance diploma in software engineering and Masters in Computer Arts at the age of 12.