During the Navratri festival in South India, people display a Golu (or Kolu, or other variation), where people display various dolls and figurines in an layered display with an odd number of steps (usually 3, 5 or 7 or even 9). This is an opportunity for creativity, when people can go all out with elaborate themed displays rivaling the best Christmas decorations.
Archana got her first taste of Golu when we went to visit my sister around the Navratri time. We had a lot of fun helping her out with her Golu, and creating a themed Mahabalipuram exhibit, complete with the miniature versions of the famed rock carvings and a beach setting on cardboard with sand.
When we got our first house, she decided that she would like to start the Golu tradition too. It is not to be taken lightly, for once you start it, you cannot stop the annual tradition. I guess we're committed to it now! It involves 9 days of display (or rather, "9 nights" from "Nav-ratri"), with a fresh preparation of a lentil dish-du-jour each day (the part that I look forward to!)
A big plus of home ownership for me was having the garage space at last for my DIY projects. Making the Golu steps turned out to be my first DIY project! A quick scan of the web showed me that I could use staircase risers from Home Depot (or Lowe's, my two favorite stores ... wait, I have to add Radio Shack and Fry's too!), and wood planks for the steps. My design goal was to make it easily dismantle-able for storage. I also noticed that the riser had different dimensions for the step and the riser, and thought that this would enable two different configurations - a taller but less deep configuration, or a shorter but deeper configuration.The first photo shows it in the taller but less deep configuration.
Materials required: Two 5 step stair risers (Lowes Item #: 59130), 5 wood planks (4' x 9.25" x 0.75" thickness), 48 insert nuts (HomeDepot Model #54454) (if you've decided on your configuration, you can get only 24 to save some moolah, but 48 is cooler because it allows you to change your configuration), 20 bolts, 20 washers, 2 wooden 2x2s (for the rear legs).
Tools required: Drill, wrench, hexagonal ?? 
The most time-consuming and painstaking part is marking out the places to drill. A little diligence here goes a long way in assuring a better finished product. To allow the plank to be seated on differing width steps in the two configurations, the holes are skewed towards one side as show in the image below. The same spacing has to be followed when drilling the risers to accommodate the insert nuts. If you're impatient and just want to skip ahead, don't worry - I've plans of the dimensions I used, below!
Enjoy!!
-Sridhar
