This is my first post in 2024 for the Thursday Doors challenge hosted by Dan Antion. Thursday Doors is a weekly challenge for people who love doors and architecture to come together to admire and share their favorite door photos, drawings, or other images or stories from around the world.
I’ve returned after two whole months. I wish I could say, I collected a truck load of ’door’ photographs during the time I wasn’t participating but I can’t. I took a few pictures of doors around home as soon as I reached Bangalore, a city in the South of India and shared those. That was sometime in the first week of December. But anything more than walking distance meant I was either in a rickshaw or a car, driving through the mad Bangalore traffic, providing very little or no opportunity for photography. By the time I reached the destination, I was just glad to have made it there. So, despite the existence of some very beautiful doors around the city, I didn’t take many photographs. Also, when I did take a few pictures, people looked at me like I was nuts. It’s easier photographing doors when one is a tourist. Otherwise, people look at you like you’re planning a burglary.
I managed to get a few pictures of doors in Chennai (a city in Madras, on the South-East coast of India), during my short visit there. I was more confident clicking as I was a visitor. It doesn’t matter if people thought of me as one or not.
This is my first post in 2024 for the Thursday Doors challenge hosted by Dan Antion. Thursday Doors is a weekly challenge for people who love doors and architecture to come together to admire and share their favorite door photos, drawings, or other images or stories from around the world.
I’ve returned after two whole months. I wish I could say, I collected a truck load of ’door’ photographs during the time I wasn’t participating but I can’t. I took a few pictures of doors around home as soon as I reached Bangalore, a city in the South of India and shared those. That was sometime in the first week of December. But anything more than walking distance meant I was either in a rickshaw or a car, driving through the mad Bangalore traffic, providing very little or no opportunity for photography. By the time I reached the destination, I was just glad to have made it there. So, despite the existence of some very beautiful doors around the city, I didn’t take many photographs. Also, when I did take a few pictures, people looked at me like I was nuts. It’s easier photographing doors when one is a tourist. Otherwise, people look at you like you’re planning a burglary.
I managed to get a few pictures of doors in Chennai (a city in Madras, on the South-East coast of India), during my short visit there. I was more confident clicking as I was a visitor. It doesn’t matter if people thought of me as one or not.

I saw the below door on the way to a restaurant we had gone for lunch to. I had to walk back and click it.

We didn’t go inside the restaurant. Seeing me click the photograph, the kind security guard offered to take our picture with the door as the backdrop and we willingly obliged.

Seeing the photograph (the one on the left above), we convinced the men to get out of the car and come for a photograph, too. For, how often does one get a good photographer?

These were the other pictures I clicked of doors on the way from one restaurant to the other.

Did you notice the design in front of the door/gate? It’s called a ‘Rangoli’. ‘Rangoli’ comes from the words, ‘Ranga’ meaning Lord Krishna and ‘Wali’ meaning ‘to impress’. As per the custom, the space outside the door is cleaned by the lady of the house, the floor is dampened and a beautiful design is made. It’s meant to beautify the outside and thereby attract positivity into the house. This is an age-old ritual that’s followed by people in Karnataka (Bangalore) and Tamil Nadu (Chennai).
Traditionally, the designs were made using rice powder on mud floors which were susceptible to ants and insects. Rice powder was a way to distract and feed the ants, and keep them from entering the house. These days, designs are made using rangoli powder. I had seen it drawn in front of independant houses in Bangalore. But, in Chennai, rangolis are made even in front of gates leading to apartment buildings and stickers with rangoli patterns are placed outside apartment doors on each floor of the apartment buildings. Also, in the past rangolis were drawn in three places- outside the gates, in front of the Holy basil plant, generally grown in the front courtyard, and finally, in the prayer room. These days, it’s just made outside the house. I think it’s a beautiful culture and a wonderful morning ritual and it’s nice to see it being followed even in these times when people complain of having no time. What do you think of it? Do you have any such morning ritual to attract positivity into your home or your life?

For those who are interested, the below map of India shows there the cities I’m talking about is situated.

That’s all I have for today. I hope you enjoyed seeing the doors and getting to know a little of the culture in the South of India.

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Here’s the international link to my book, ‘Coming Home’,  if you enjoy a story on love, life, loss, relationships and family, set in India.
And if you’re in India, this is the link.
‘Coming Home’ is available on Kindle as well as Paperback. It’s free for KUL subscribers. Check out what others say about the book on Amazon and Goodreads. I appreciate reviews very much. So, do leave one, if you’ve read the book.
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