Seagate employees in Pune, India, recently supported a local engineering school’s attempt to break a Guinness World Record.
On April 2, students from the College of Engineering Pune (CoEP) created a massive rangoli measuring 24,835 square meters (267,321 square feet). Rangoli is a traditional Indian art form in which colorful patterns are created with ground rice, dry flour, sand or flower petals.
More than 1,000 students took part in the Seagate-sponsored event. The artistic effort took two-and-a-half hours and required about 44 tons of rangoli powder to create the giant “floating” image; students practiced each day for about a month before attempting to break the record for the world’s largest rangoli pattern. Seagate contributed funding for the materials needed for the students’ rangoli.
The artwork was designed to spread a message of peace, gender equality and water conservation. The vibrant, shimmering artwork has unofficially surpassed the current Guinness rangoli record holder of 22,862 square meters (246,093 square feet), also set in India three years ago. CoEP students are waiting to hear if their achievement will be officially recognized as the largest rangoli.
The event was open to the public, with more than 7,000 people stopping by to check out the students’ (hopefully) record-setting effort.
Niranjan Pol, an engineering director at Seagate’s Pune R&D office, said the attempt to set a new world record is “a major feat, and Seagate is happy to be given the opportunity to be a part of this initiative.”
“It was a great platform for us to increase Seagate’s visibility in the community, especially with engineering students,” added Kedar Patankar, engineering and site program manager at Seagate.
