Women who shout it out with their tattoos

 Women adorning tattoos is not a taboo anymore.I remember a time when our perception of a woman with a tattoo is of a rebel biker, emo or even a porn star for that matter. Today no matter what her age is , she has become bold enough to break the norms and get a tattoo done. There are umpteen number of speculations before your get yourself inked the first time. Is it safe? Which is the best place to get it done? Who is the best artist? What is the design? It  has become part of our normalcy  and is no longer seen as negative by most people.

Women have become highly expressive and get tattoos mostly for their own satisfaction and not to impress anyone else.

Maybe when you get a tattoo in your twenties there is not much thought behind it.im sure none of us have thought of how our grandchildren would come to us and feel our tattoos and we would answer them by saying yes it is a tattoo , actress of those times Angelina Jolie festooned.

At twenties we do not possess a broader view of the big picture in life. I know of someone in her early fifties so wanted to get one done. But at least she would’ve already seen life and has a better idea of what she would like to draw on herself.

I myself have got inked thrice and have always gone around asking these questions like

Do you have a tattoo? How many? What’s your inspiration? to many and they have all been happy to share their stories.

The first story is of a free thinking woman who is a peace lover. The one who loves her pets,  her essential oils and her fruit lunches.

Here goes her story:-

I think all of us as kids had drawings of houses, faces , body shapes in the last pages of our notebooks. My friend too drew a lot of faces of women when she was young. Long eyebrows, sharp eyes, nose-ring and big bindi.

She indeed looked powerful and pretty .She drew the same face over and over again and when she grew up her friend from Northern India pointed out a strong resemblance to Goddess Durga. She was taken aback as she was unaware that as a Christian child she had no idea all these years she drew the face of Goddess Durga . She learnt so much about the powerful Goddess and did a collection of Garments as a tribute to her favourite Goddess. She is strong, destroys Evil and is very powerful.

She was more than happy to ink this Powerful form on her leg .

In today’s world you would be proud to see a strong Christian woman to have inked the Hindu Goddesses face on herself as a true expression of Strength and Power. Many would think “a goddess on your leg ‘? Hmm well, I guess As long as your inspiration and respect remains intact does it matter where it is?

Very similar but yet a firm gallant person who lives by her heart has the picture of the Phoenix bird on the nape of her neck.

The mythological phoenix in black on her back .  This tattoo in just one color in itself is so powerful but in reality the phoenix bird has a colorful plumage and a tail of gold and scarlet color. It has a 500 to 1000 year life-cycle, near the end of which it builds itself a nest of twigs that then ignites; both nest and bird burn fiercely and are reduced to ashes, from which a new, young phoenix or phoenix egg arises, reborn to live again.  The Phoenix's ability to be reborn from its own ashes implies that it is immortal.

My friend here believes that in our human life span itself we have lot of opportunities to be reborn again and again to live a better life.

And with one downfall our life does not end.

Its so true and a good lesson learnt too.

The third one is a customised form of something which existed.

This is a clear example of perception

The customized ying yang is what my dear friend here wanted to adorn. Maybe I know her too well to give u a small description of her personality.

The ying yang means the shadow and light in the Chinese mythology. It means that the opposite extremities are interconnected. Dark and light, male and female, low and high, cold and hot, water and fire, earth and air to name a few. Though on the exterior they look so different there is always a balance which should be maintained. Too much of anything is not too good.

The ying yang represents symmetry and balance but she wanted her tattoo to represent freedom without boundaries. She added asymmetry by adding the splash around the ying yang. She wanted balance in life .By balance we do not forget to do our work, we always have time for our loved ones we have a spiritual connect and we are never an expense to the society

and hence her ying yang….

I am sometimes amazed by the thought process before painting this on your skin.

This beautiful lady has the initial of her name tattooed and also yet another tribal feline face but what caught my eyes is these four alphabets on the nape of her neck. From the position to inspiration to the stylized font it’s all soothing

H O P E

There is always despair if you don’t have anything to look forward to. It is a high dose of optimism.

This positive wait is what gets her going whatever goes wrong. There is always a hope of a better tomorrow that makes her live through bad times.

It helps her to get back on her feet, hold her chin up and walk on.

It is so true and would highly recommend hope, love , faith to represent what your belief is!

Well the next story is of

This strong woman who has two different tattoos and I found them both as important to go on this write up as the connections are worthy of a mention

A star tattoo is one of the most common tattoos like butterflies for instance . But this customized design represents 6 important people in her life who have inspired her for survival.

There are many people who support us and be with us through many stages of our lives. Our inspirations and people we are indebted to.

If we break us down to micro units these people would form most of the pieces. The big star is her mother intertwined showing her deep rooted love for her wherever she is. It represents her loved ones who had passed and how she honours the memory with the tattoo. It’s doing exactly what she wants, keeping the memory of her loved ones alive.

 The second tattoo is to keep her rooted.

When things don’t go according to our plan we search for love and solace in all the wrong places.

When you are shaken and thoughts waver when we think life is complicated and all we see around is agitation we forget one thing…to be peaceful, to breathe, to relax…Once you see life around gets better when you are peaceful and things fall in place and there is a sign of positivity….then the symbol of peace “OM” written in “Siddham” came along

Moving on to a Arian,

She had no speculations on what she wanted to get tattooed. She is an Arian embodied 100% and very much ruled by the war God Mars. She chose her “Ram” on her calf .

Highly adventurous courageous energetic and confident. What more that the strong RAM can portray a true arian…?

She looks forward to tattooing her God Mars as soon as she finds a good design .

I have known her to have had the longest wait before getting her tattoo done. The worry was about the pain, the concern about the right design and so much of thought, before getting this Lord Buddha on her hands. She would only want to believe what she saw! She questioned every maxim which she saw.

Be it politics, myth , religion!

By birth a Hindu she was not completely convinced about the existence of God and his superhuman powers. She learnt about Gautham Buddha and his preachings and felt it easier to relate to it than believe a story which was difficult to assimilate.

Hence she proudly flaunts her tattoo on her hands.

 I nearly jumped out of my skin when this chirpy young girl came to me and said she wanted to do the Seven deadly sins on herself. After a lot of discussion I was convinced as what it meant to her is what made it different.

The Seven deadly sins or the cardinal vices are Wrath greed sloth pride lust envy and gluttony. As she grew older and experienced life and its situations more, she had started identifying these deadly sins around her .Her tattoo would protect her from the sins and as a true Virgo she wants the zodiac to protect her from the evils around her. So she looks forward to ink her Virgo sign above the 7 deadly sins.

This bright blue star tattoo has a lot of sentiments behind it.

This is the Polar star or the “Dhruva Nakshatram”.

Dhruv a devotee of Lord Vishnu was blessed to attain the position of the Polar star known as the Dhruva Nakshatram .

The 5 point star also represents the pancha bhootam the top being the spirit and followed by the earth air fire and water. The pentagram associated with Mars symbolises harmony through conflict.

Maybe this story existed even before she knew tattoos did!

Her fascination for stars doesn’t end her. She collects star shaped curios, crystals, Christmas tree decorations bracelets studs and pendants.

Thus he chose to keep it closer to her pulse on her wrist.

 Last but not the least I think my tattoos do need a mention here.

My First tattoo is still my favourite tattoo also because it is like a symbol of gratitude that I see it every day.

Yes I have not taken my breath granted I have woken up to see yet another beautiful day. It is a cross. I have been educated at an English Girls convent school and there were many Anglo Indian Nuns from Goa and many small towns from the western coast. I always remembered seeing these little wonders of ink on them. Later having being blessed to spend 2 whole months in Goa I came across the same cross on many, from the tribals of Goa.

When I felt it was right I did get a stylized cross on my hand facing my heart so that every day I wake up it is a beautiful reminder of the day that is in front of me.

Well I have had a lot of fun knowing and sharing these stories as much you had fun reading about them.This is today’s bold expressive bunch of women for you J