STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are about to receive an Indian-style welcome to their new jobs. A group of volunteers put together a kolam in Washington, D.C. That is a traditional South Indian art form that's used as a sign of welcome. Shanthi Chandrasekar is the artist behind this project.
SHANTHI CHANDRASEKAR: So there's a grid of dots that is drawn using powdered rice or rock powder in front of houses on the floor and a line that goes around these dots, all done freehand.
NOEL KING, HOST:
The kolam team asked people to submit a single dot design on a 12-by-12-inch paper tile. They got over 1,800 submissions.
SOWMYA SOMNATH: From stickers to favorite cartoon characters to...
ROOPAL SHAH: Traditional Indian Madhubani painting and peacock designs.
KING: Sowmya Somnath and Roopal Shah are volunteer organizers, and they say the variety of images show how diverse the participants are.
SHAH: So there's this really beautiful kind of combination of tiles with peoples' spirit connecting in a way that creates this mosaic ground cover.
SOMNATH: It's not just a welcoming of a new administration; it's this idea that so many people came together with all of their stories, and it's those stories now that are more and more a part of the American fabric and more and more welcome.
INSKEEP: And while the kolam does connect with Harris' Tamil heritage, it also symbolizes a way forward out of a tough moment for the country.
CHANDRASEKAR: The dots represent problems in life, and if one can weave around these dots and also maintain a symmetry while going around, it sort of brings out solutions as you work on them because it's very meditative.
INSKEEP: The 2021 inauguration kolam is set to reveal its positive energy digitally over Zoom today.
KING: And eventually, the tiles will be assembled into a kolam of more than 2,500 square feet once security around the capital eases up.
(SOUNDBITE OF AMA LAD'S "KOLAM THEME") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
