Mindy Kaling is left empty-handed as daughter Katherine steals her chalk while celebrating Diwali

Indian by heritage, Mindy Kaling is kicking off five days of Diwali, the Festival of Lights, with a bang. 

The 41-year-old comedienne was keen to show off her celebration on social media as she drew colored Rangolis — a design made on the floor that traditionally uses colored rice powder — to ring in the Hindu holiday. 

Sitting cross-legged outside her home in front of the chalk drawing, The Mindy Project star was left empty handed as her two-year-old daughter Katherine, ‘Kit,’ ran off with her chalk. 

 Admiring her beautiful work, Kaling rocked a colorful sweatsuit in shades of blue and red with a red lip to match. 

With her hands open and a bewildered look on her face, Kaling looked very much on her own. 

She captioned the image, ‘When you’re drawing Diwali Rangolis and your daughter leaves with all the chalk.’

Clearly having a mind of her own just like her outspoken mother, Kit was looking to stir the pot.  

Dressed in her holiday best, she was seen fleeing the scene in a red dress with pigtails as she carried the chalk bucket away from her mom. 

On Saturday, Mindy shared a video of herself on Instagram as she lit a ceremonial candle to celebrate Diwali. 

Speaking to her followers she said, ‘Diwali is celebrated by Hindus all around the world. Diwali also symbolizes the triumph of good over evil and after this year I just feel like that’s exactly what we need and I do think there is a bright light waiting for us.’

She was later seen taking a boomerang of her friend who was cooking Kheer, an Indian rice pudding, to ring in the holiday. 

Mindy in the past has described herself as ‘kind of Hindu,’ penning an Amazon original story of the same title as part of a collection of essays. 

She has said that giving birth to her daughter ‘changed everything,’ as she strove to give her a sense of cultural identity. 

‘I felt I needed to think about my culture in a larger way, since now, technically, it was culture,’ she writes in the essay. 

She continued to share that she opted to have a Mundan – a Hindu ceremony which involves shaving off a baby’s hair when they are between four months and three years old – for her daughter Kit. 

‘It’s done to rid you of the negativity from your past life, which is represented by the hair you were born with, so it’s very much mandatory,’ she wrote. 

In September Kaling gave birth to her son in secret, never sharing that she was pregnant and also never disclosing the identity of her children’s fathers to anyone. 

In a 2019 interview with the New York Times she said, ‘My feeling is that, until I speak to my daughter about that, I’m not going to talk to anyone else about it.’

She has been linked to former Office co-star and on-and-off beau BJ Novak over the years as the pair have dated and broken up multiple times, with both parties now swearing they are just really good friends. 

‘If I was on the outside looking at it, I would think the same thing,’ she said of dating rumors, continuing, ‘B.J. is so much more like family now than a platonic friend. He’s the godfather to my daughter, he comes over like once a week.’