I was not good in studies. So, after I finished Class VIII, I never went back to school. My elder brother Shyam was earning a living as a mehendi artist in Delhi. He took me under his wing and began teaching me how to draw intricate designs with mehendi.
Coming from a village near Agra, I belong to a family of four brothers and two sisters. Since we have no land of our own, each of us work to eke a living and look after our parents. My bother enjoys travelling and that is how he came to South India and Kerala. He liked what he saw and felt that there was scope for artisans like us. When he was working in Pondicherry, he took me with him. I worked there for two years and picked up some Tamil as well. Then he decided to move to the city and take this space on rent on the premises of Big Bazaar. That is when I came to the city.
I have been working here for more than a year now. Business is quite good, especially during the marriage season. Currently, there is a lull in the work and my brother has gone home. After he returns, I will go home.
From 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. I sit in this makeshift shed and apply mehendi for customers who come here. Not all are interested in getting their hands painted. My customers are shown an album of mehendi designs and they choose one. It could be a motif or a design. Rates range from Rs. 50 to Rs. 1,500.
There is a special package for weddings. Sometimes I am invited to marriages and other occasions to apply mehendi on the hands of relatives and guests. I guess cinema has made mehendi popular here too. We have different kinds of designs for various functions. Rajasthani, urban, Bombay and Delhi designs are some of the styles we offer. Rajasthani and Marwadi designs are heavy and ornate work on the hands and feet while ‘urban’ is light and delicate work. Bombay and Delhi styles involve making ‘cuts’ in the design that give it a different look, much like a light and shadow work.
Mehendi powder and oil are bought from Delhi and I make a paste of it at home in Ulloor, where I stay on my own. And then the paste is filled into cones. I have all the time in the world since I have no friends or relatives here. So it is only work. No cinema or roaming around. I watch Hindi movies on television. I find this ‘basa’ difficult though I have picked up a word or two. So I buy vegetables from Big Bazaar and do my own cooking, usually chappathi and sabji.
Yes, I do miss my parents and family.
(A weekly column on men and women who make Thiruvananthapuram what it is)
