NEW DELHI: With Onam round the corner, Malayalis in Delhi welcomed the festival by participating in traditional Pookkalam (floral rangolis) contests held in the capital today.
Women adorned in Onam Pudava (traditional Kerala saree) and men attired in Mundu (traditional dhothi) competed with each other to showcase their talent of designing best creative floral rangolis at the 11th Pookkalam contest organised by the Malayala Manorama newspaper at Mayur Vihar here today.
A total of 24 teams, each comprising five persons, took part in the contest and virtually came out in flying colours.
While there were teams with mixed ages, exclusive young men and women teams also participated, who had a specific theme for the contemporary world.
A team of Malayali nurses from Gurgaon designed a Pookkalam with a theme on clubbing health and nature.
"We used 100 per cent flowers for our decoration. Ahead of the today's contest, we had prepared our design on paper to check out colour combinations," Tintu, a team member and a Nurse from Gurgaon said.
Similarly, five young male software professional from Kerala, who are working in Delhi, created a Pookkalam with a design of peacock.
"We had prepared our design for Pookkalam on the computer before designing it with flowers on the floor in the contest. Participation in Pookkalam competitions in our schools and colleges came in handy for us," an enthusiastic Anoj said.
Three teams were adjudicated as winners of the contest,who received the first, second and third prizes. A special prize went to the team from the Rohini based Aanchal Centre for Differently-Abled Children.