Second Tattoo

I got my first tattoo done about two years ago and talked about my experience here. It got me thinking on inking again. The same rules of What, Where, Who and When applied here too.

The 'WHO' was the easy part as I was sure I would want to get it done again at Dark Arts Studio in Bangalore where I got my first tattoo done and preferably from Satish Palan who did my first tattoo as well.

The 'WHERE' part was also almost pre-decided. If you read my first tattoo blog you will realise that I was thinking of getting the tattoo done either on my upper or lower part of the hand. Since the first one had been on the upper part of the hand, I decided that the second one would be on the forearm.

The 'WHAT' part got me thinking since I wanted the second one to mean something very personal. The first tattoo had been of Lord Ganesha as I had always wanted to start that way. The second tattoo's idea had already started germinating in my mind for some time. I wanted my family's names as a tattoo and the more I thought about it, the more it seemed awesome since the names were interlinked. My wife's name is Anindita or Ani for short, my daughter's name is Ipsita and my son's name is Tarush. If you look closely, as I did when I started thinking of a design, you can link them with Ani leading into Ipsita leading into Tarush or in other words AnIpsiTArush. So that was fixed. I wanted this to be an inner circle with the outer circle saying Beautiful Soul as these three were the beautiful soul of my life. Two concentric circles - AnIpsiTArush as inner and Beautiful Soul as outer.

The most difficult part was the 'WHEN' part as I just could not find the time in my busy schedule. In between travelling and family time, I was not able to take the required time out to visit Dark Arts. In the meantime, I had been speaking to my best friend, Sowmya Ramachandran, and getting her psyched to get a tattoo done as well. We had been discussing for quite some time about the possibility. 30th Nov was her birthday and we got discussing about the possibility of her getting her tattoo done on that day. I had a tentative appointment for her at Dark Arts and when she finally decided to get it done, I decided to accompany her and get my second one done as well. So the first tattoo was on Ganesh Chaturthi and the second one on my best friend's birthday.

When we landed up at Dark Arts, we got to Sowmya's design first. She wanted to get a Sun done and as she was being shown some designs, I got a chance to explain my 'concentric circle' design to Preeti. Sowmya quickly decided on a flaming Sun with a V (for Vedanth, her son) morphing into a R (for Raj, her husband) in the centre of the Sun. As I got discussing with them on my idea, we quickly realised that having so many alphabets in a circle may make it illegible. As Preeti showed me some fonts, we finalised on a beautiful cursive font which would give it some flair. The stencil looked good and we were set.

Sowmya's tattoo took a good hour to get done and it did pain a bit for her as she was getting it done right at the pulse area on her wrist. The end result is really good. Satish got started on mine after her's was done. And it took all of 2-1/2 hours to get it done. As I had mentioned earlier, this time too it wasn't very bad. There were moments when it did pain a bit but mostly it was like a small needle pricking you softly. After some time you sort of get used to it and it doesn't even register. At the end of 2-1/2 hours by 10.00pm, my tattoo was done and I had my second ink.

The tattoo is big, taking up almost 3/4 of the arm. I jokingly mention to people that now I can't even have an affair as the girl will ask whose names are those on your hand and when I tell her that its my wife and kids, I'm sure she'll disappear. :) But what better way to show commitment and love for my family than to have them tatto-ed on my body with the fact that they are the Beautiful Soul of my life!

Day 85 - My Tattoo Journey

Ever since I start seeing 'LA Ink' on Discovery Travel & Living, I have been intrigued by tattoos or body art, as it is called. The artistry of the team in creating even ten toughest designs on to the person's body have enthralled me. It got me thinking of getting a tattoo done myself. This was over 18 months back.

Now I am no muscular, heavy set, macho kind of a guy. I'm a regular next door neighbor guy who goes about his business daily and has his regular life. So I am not sure where this need for a tattoo came from. Maybe it's the classic case of mid-life crisis as I touch 40 and need to prove to myself that I am still young. The mind is still set in college days sometimes but the life shows otherwise with kids, job and other responsibilities.

The other aspect to consider was of course the pain. On TV it seems so simple and painless when the guys get their tattoo done but hey it is after all pins and needles piercing your skin, leaving a trail of blood and definitely pain. The question was how bad would the pain be and would I be able to take it? Then my sister got a tattoo done followed by a close friend. And I though if they can bear the pain, I am sure so can I. I started discussing the fact that I wanted to get a tattoo done openly with my wife. After all I had to consider if she was OK with it.

I started my research and thought process on what would I like to get done. Considering that it was going to be permanent and irremovable, it better be something that I wanted to do. It also better be something that I would be comfortable to show off. And so the two key considerations came in - what and where. These two are interconnected and finally determine what you do. You could do a simple tattoo at an always open part of your body like wrist or ankle to show off. You could do a tattoo that means something at a place where you would rarely show it. Or you could do a sexy sensual tattoo at a private place that only some people would get to see. The permutations and combinations are aplenty. But the two considerations still stand - what and where.

I decided that my first tattoo, if I ever got to do any more, would have to be God Ganesha. I wanted to do a God and Lord Ganesha is the best way to start anything new. So the search for various God Ganesha tattoo designs started. While at the same time the decision of 'where' was being taken between the upper right hand or the lower right hand - the determination being ghat the upper would be shown only when I would be topless while the lower right hand would show my tattoo even when I wore half sleeve shirts or T shirts.

Once the 'what' and 'where' decisions were coming together, the next big one was 'who'. Since it is permanent and involves pain and body, you need to ensure that the artist is experienced, clean and trustworthy. The thing to note is not to go by the looks of the artist but by the workshop. I asked around and also checked with my friend who had got it done in Bangalore.

By mid year all these were coming together. Another friend of mine - Sowmya - also mentioned that she wanted to get a tattoo done too and I planned that we would get it done together. Now the only question was when would I get enough courage to see this through. Things came to head early this month when Sowmya told me that her friend had already fixed an appointment for them to get the tattoo done together. It was now or never for me too!

Ganesh Chaturthi was upon us and I though what better day to get a Ganesha tattoo done if not on ghat day. And so I landed at Pradeep Menon's Dark Arts Studio in Frazer town on Saturday, 11th Sep at 3.30 to get the needful. Its a small place but well known with helpful staff. I had decided what I wanted to get done but saw some more designs. I still liked the one that I had chosen. They took some time to get the stencil done and I had to wait as there were other customers before me. A guy had got his name with stars on his right hand. It was bleeding and I hoped mine wouldn't as much. A young girl came in to get an angel done and she was happy that it didn't hurt too much. And then it was my turn.

I stepped on to the work area and hoped that I would be able to take the pain and not make a fool of myself, especially after the young girl had taken it all so well. Satish was the artist doing my tattoo - a beautiful combination of the ever-present Hindu symbol of OM with the God Ganesha in it on my upper right hand. It was for me, not to show off to people. As he took hold of my hand and the needle I braced myself. The time has come. He made the first line and asked me if I was ok and if he could proceed. I was a little surprised because it didn't hurt much at all. Just felt like someone has pricked my skin lightly. This was not that bad. I said OK and the journey began. Frankly it wasn't bad at all. It didn't jut as much as I thought it would. I was playing games on my cell, SMS-ing my wife but clearly not looking at him doing my tattoo. My head was turned away. I realized that it doesn't pain too much when they do the outline. A bit more when they shade and colour.

Two hours later it was done. I was a proud 'owner' of a tattoo that I loved and had joined the ranks of people with body art. I love my tattoo and may even go back for some more.

For all the first timers, remember a few golden rules:
WHAT: Know clearly what you want to get done. Do your research and decide what you want to do before you land up at the studio. Or at least have a clear idea.
WHERE: As important. Don't get your first tattoo on the bone. Hurts a lot. Get your first on a more fleshy part. And why you want it the. What is your motivation.
WHO: This is very important. Ask around. Do your research. Go to the studio. See the workstation. Be comfortable with what you see. Trust the artist.
WHEN: Only when you are mentally ready. Always do it when you think you want to do it. Not because someone else is doing it and they are forcing you to get one too.

Remember it's permanent so spare a little thought and then take the plunge. I did and I'm almost 40!