Students of the University of Guyana’s Faculty of Technology on Thursday afternoon emerged winners of the annual Rangoli Competition held at the University’s Turkeyen, East Coast Demerara Campus.
Rangoli is an art form which has its origin in India where it is done to celebrate an important occasion using colored rice, sand, chalk dust or powder.
In Guyana Rangoli designs are done using colored rice around the Diwali festival every year.
The University of Guyana’s Hindu Society has been hosting annual competitions for several years to bring together students from all walks of life at the major tertiary education institution.
According to Bindia Isurdeen, an Executive member of the hindu society, the competition which is followed by a cultural programme also seeks to showcase the talents at the University while promoting a better understanding of the Hindu or Indian culture and traditions.
This year’s event saw participation from twelve groups who spent all afternoon creating remarkable designs and patterns depicting events tied to the festival of Diwali.
The winners of the competition came from the University’s Faculty of Technology as they were able to capture the judges’ eyes and hearts with a design depicting the path to Ayodha which, according to Hindu legends, the dieties of Ram and Sita walked to return home for Diwali after spending years in exile.
The students were presented with A voucher from Giftland OfficeMax and a trophy.
Second place was captured by ‘Dunkin Donuts’ which is a team of students from various faculties while the Biology class came in third.
Following the competition, the students were treated to a cultural programme and sweet meats at the University’s auditorium.
The event is hosted with donations from sponsors who this year were Giftland, Mattai, Ganesh parts, Demerara Distillers Limited (DDL) and others.
Some of the other designs from Thursday’s Rangoli Competition:
