| Every afternoon, a few years ago, to my mother's utter disgust, I would request a particular song through dial-a-music video on the local cable channel. | |
| As Robbie Williams crooned "I don't wanna rock, DJ" in the music video, he also stripped his clothes to the point of actually stripping away body flesh till his skeleton was dancing. | |
| "Why on earth does my teenage daughter insist on watching a rock star strip?" my worried mother wondered. My reason was different from what she imagined. | |
| I was fascinated by Williams' tattoos "" a lion on his right arm, a Maori design (from New Zealand's tribes) on the left arm, a French phrase on the collar bone, musical notes of "All you need is love" on the lower back and more. | |
| The days of tattoos being mere fashion fad are over, thinks Hardy Mitra of Funky Monkey tattoo studios in Delhi, Mumbai and Chandigarh for "everyone comes with their own story for having a permanent tattoo done". | |
| Sakshi Kinra, a 22-year-old media professional, got "Eternity" encrypted in Chinese script on her back, and later added the English word by a tattoo artist in Goa. Why eternity? "It was a friendship thing plus the tattoo itself would be forever," she reasons. | |
| With the number of tattoo studios in cities expanding, Mitra fee's "there is a definite upward curve in the tattooing business and many people, especially in their 20s, are increasingly wanting the permanency of a tattoo". | |
| And what motivates people to get a permanent design on their body? For most it's a moment captured or a philosophy engraved. Youngsters nowadays are more confident than ever about wanting to sport their belief and ideas on their body. | |
| Many surveys also state that India's stressed urban youth is turning towards spirituality "" so sporting a tattoo design that one believes in is for oneself, not for others and not a fashion fad. Mitra sees only a mere 5 per cent of people impulsively wanting a tattoo, for the rest it's a well thought-out process. | |
| My friend who has two tattoos "" a colourful butterfly on her ankle and one on her hipbone "" shrieks over the phone, "Neither my parents nor my to be in-laws know about my tattoos so don't write my name." | |
| Her parents, like most elders, still associate tattoos with a Western fad blindly followed by their kids imitating rock stars or Hollywood celebrities. | |
| Olly, a tattoo consultant with Als Tattoo N Body Piercing Studio in Mumbai, thinks that tattooing trends (an ancient phenomenon in India) have been wrapped up in a Western garb. Even otherwise conservative Chennai boasts of a professional tattoo studio called Irezumi that was launched by tattoo enthusiast Naveen Kumar three months ago. | |
| Olly feels trends in tattoo designs are getting Indian. So tribal designs like Worli art from Maharashtra, Kutch (where tribal women get tattoos on the neck, wrists and ankles as a substitute for jewellery) are in vogue and modified with a contemporary twist. | |
| Olly, who has some 28 tattoos on his own body "" including Greek lettering, a sun and saturn emblem, a triquetra symbol from the pagan religion Wicca, a spider-crab, a wolverine, Maori and Japanese designs "" quips, "There's room for more." | |
| Shanti, Om and mantras are extremely popular with foreigners and Indians says Karma, a tattoo artist. So are portraits "" Gandhiji's among foreigners, and Cuban revolutionary Che Guevara's portrait as a tattoo design is a world phenomenon. Mike Tyson and Maradona both have Guevara portraits tattooed as an expression for freedom. | |
| In fact, some of these interesting tattoos will be shown at the 2nd International Tattoo Convention in London, where 150 tattoo artists will assemble from October 6-8. | |
| For those of you wanting a tattoo, be sure because it's usually for eternity. Always visit a tattoo studio that uses disposable sterilised needles for tattooing. | |
| Usually, a tattoo artist will talk to you on the designs and your philosophy. Some people know what they want, like this guy who came to Olly and insisted on having Bollywood star Dharmendra's portrait tattooed on his back with "Mera naam Veeru hai aur log mujhe Paji kehte hai". | |
| "I dissuaded him but he was adamant," says Olly who discourages "these 18-year-old girls who want their boyfriends names tattooed and come back a year later with a design alteration with another boyfriend's name." Olly's suggestion: Get the tattoo done in a foreign script. | |
| On an average a small one square inch tattoo would cost between Rs 1,500-2,000. Most men will have their first tattoo on their biceps. Bollywood star Sanjay Dutt has a lion on his biceps. For women it's mostly the ankle or the back "" Esha Deol has the Gayatri Mantra on her back. | |
| Temporary henna-based tattoos last a week. I'd say, get a perma-tattoo only if you really want one as an expression of individuality, and only if its permanence doesn't freak you out. | |
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