BENGALURU: A major attraction at the Chitra Santhe was a rangoli drawn by Akshay Jalihal (36), artist from Anekal taluk, of 107-year-old Saalumarada Thimmakka.
Thimmaka is known for planting 384 banyan trees along a 4-km stretch of a highway between Hulikal and Kudur in Magadi Tuluk of Ramanagar district.
Thimmakka, who has so far planted 8,000 trees, has won numerous awards, including a Padma Shri in 2019.
Jalihal said he made the rangoli using 300 different colours. It is a 3D hyper-realistic rangoli where standing at any angle one will feel like Thimakka is looking at them.
“Thimakka is an inspiration to many. In spite of receiving many awards, not many know about her. So I decided to make a rangoli dedicating to her,” said Jalihal.
It is a four by four rangoli. Some of the colours prominently seen were red, brown, yellow, white, green and yellow. There was high detailing focusing on her wrinkles, the bindi, earrings and nose rings. Also, Thimakka is always seen wearing flowers and the rangoli depicts even this.
“I have incorporated every detail of her facial structure. I came at 5 am and started the rangoli and it took me eight hours to complete it. Many people who came in the early hours missed seeing it as I was still making it. However, the picture even if taken from a cell phone, when zoomed, will throw up every detail. This quality also adds to the 3D hyper-realistic rangoli,” added Jalihal.