While one youngster flaunts an image of a dragon, the other opts to sport a scorpion on his arm. And there are others, who choose spiritual signs, portraits and even names.
Yes, tattoo craze is fast catching up with youngsters in the city as an increasing number of them hitting parlours to get inked. With the academic year set to commence soon, the number of students, especially those pursuing engineering and other professional courses, opting to get inked is steadily increasing, say tattoo artists.
For many youngsters, it is more of a style statement while young employees like sales executives get inked for fun. “Students do it to make a style statement to stand out in the crowd,” says Patanala Raju, a city-based tattoo artist.
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Sporting a tattoo is no more a taboo. “Youth, whose parents may sneer at them for sporting tattoos, play safe by getting inked on shoulders, biceps and areas that usually do not get exposed. They keep changing the tattoo designs and post pictures on social networking websites, sharing them with their friends. With football world cup on, the present craze is for football oriented tattoos,” he explains.
“It is for fun. It gives me a different identity and I am enjoying it,” says Madanmohan, a private employee, who got a dragon inked on his arm.
Cost is no deterrent for many and youngsters are game to spend anywhere between Rs.1,500 and Rs.2,500 per tattoo. “The fact that the number of parlours which ink tattoos in the city are very less prompts many youngsters to travel all the way to Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam and Bangalore to get inked with different designs like celtic designs, tribal arts, oriental fonts and animals,” says K. Jagadish, an employee at a parlour.
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