monalisa patsani, post news network, Bhubaneswar, May 11: A tattoo may remind one, who has survived the holocaust, of Auschwitz in 1941, where the Nazis first introduced it to indentify the bodies of prisoners by the serial numbers inked on their arms during their registration in the concentration camp. To a well-travelled citizen of this world a tattoo may be synonymous with a sect of people in Cambodia, Laos or Thailand where the vantra tattoo is used to protect one from the evil and bring in luck, or a Maori, who still prefers wearing intricate moko on his/her face. To a student of anthropology in India a tattoo may be synonymous with a Khond woman, who would ink her face with ‘traditional tattoo’. In simple words, the art of tattooing is age-old and varies from country to country and culture to culture.
A modern man or woman today wants to ink his or her body for cosmetic, artistic, religious, sentimental or memorial, and magical reasons. There are many in India who like their bodies to be inked. Tattoo shops have come up in the cities where they do all kinds of tattoo including tribal, Egyptian, Chinese and of course Indian. The motifs of the tattoo obviously vary and a person wears it in keeping with his or her personality, as a tattoo worn speaks volume about a man or a woman’s personal preferences.
Wearing tattoos has become a major trend among youths in cities like Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai and the North-East India where boys and girls wear those to express their feelings and emotions. The tattoo culture is picking up in Bhubaneswar too.
Tony Ace, in-charge of a popular, city-based tattoo parlour, The Tattoo of Nirvana, near Forum Mart, said, “We started our tattoo parlour in 2011. At the beginning the business was not that good as it was not that popular in the city. But because of celebrities, mainly from the film industry, who have inked their bodies, tattooing has become a popular art form. Now the market of the tattoo art has increased. Many new customers are coming to ink their bodies with tattoo designs of their choice. Youths and college students are the ones who mostly prefer tattooing.”
It has been found that females are doing more tattoos than their male counterparts. Working woman, housewives, students and others are opting for tattoos in hands, neck, and legs. “Here in the city, women are doing more tattooing than men. They specially ask for designs like flowers, butterfly, angels and anklet etc. I have customers, who are working ladies, housewives, and college students, and often visit my shop. They generally prefer small tattoos which would look beautiful and not embarrassing”, said Tony.
“Compared to the last two years, the number of customers has increased. Last year, in a month we used to get around 60 customers but this year the number of customers has increased. Now in a month nearly 150 customers visit our shop to ink their bodies,” he said.
Another tattoo salon owner Rohit Padhi of Glamazon Unisex Salon and Spa shared Tony’s views that young girls of the city have developed more interest in tattooing recently. “Every day I do around 15 tattoos of which majority are females. It has become a trend among young college students to wear a tattoo on their body; even working ladies are going for tattoos. They mostly prefer small tattoos on hands and leg and colour tattoo is more popular. It makes them trendy, stylish and elegant. 90 per cent of my customers are students. I think because of the celebrities the tattoo art has gained popularity in the city. When I opened my salon two years ago, the number of female customers was very few.”
Swadhin Das, a 4th year BTech student of KIIT who also has a stake in the Secret 7 Tattoo Studio said, “It (tattooing) has become a fashion statement among girls. Writing initials of their names, butterflies, stars, flowers, anklets had been the common tattoo designs preferred by the girls, but recently they have developed interest in dream-creature tattoo and quotations. In other big cities tattoo is very popular but in Orissa and especially in Bhubaneswar it is a recent trend.”
The rate of tattoo varies according to the size of the tattoo and its style. The rate of colour tattoo is higher than that of the normal tattoo. “Earlier there was only black and white tattoo, but now colour tattoo is very popular. The rate is decided according to per square inch. We use organic colours where no chemical is added. People often demand colour tattoo but we decide according to the skin colour and whether the colour tattoo would look good or not on them,” Tony said.
Though it is gaining popularity but there are some side effects. Sometimes the colour causes irritation or may even cause skin infection. So it is necessary to take precaution while doing tattoo and even after tattooing. “We take all sorts of precautions like new needle, use sterilised equipment and even give written instructions to the customers to be followed by them till the healing period is over. 7 to 10 days are required for proper healing and if proper care is not taken then there are chances of infection.”
Esha Hans, a working lady who had done lots of tattoos on her body said, “I like tattoos; it’s a beautiful art where your body becomes the canvas and you carry it forever. I have different kinds of tattoos, like butterfly on my neck, anklet, combined angel and a devil, my horoscope sign and many other tattoos. It’s a growing trend where everyone wants to have a mark to carry on their body. Each tattoo on my body has some reason for being there and I really like them. It’s a fashion statement and makes the person more attractive and unique”.
Arpita Mishra, a housewife, said, “I have recently made a tattoo on my ankle. I like colour tattoos and am planning to make another small tattoo on my hand.”
