Mehendi

Shrawan has come and so begins the color on the hands of a girl. It is said that Shrawan is the month to color your hands in the name of your beloved; the darker the color, the deeper your love.

Of course, that was not my motive when I first put mehendi in my hands. I just wanted to see how mehendi would actually look on my hands as I’ve never had it on. It was my cousin Arija who agreed to do this wonderful act for me. We chose this simple arched design for one hand. She even made a butterfly and my initials. I watched intrigued as she worked on my hand, weaving and swirling. It was like a Disney princess moment for me, watching the colors come to life. As the mehendi got dried and shriveled up and washed away, the color was very light. I could barely believe that this would last. Arija assured me it would get darker. And the next morning, I was greeted with a pleasant surprise. I could not stop staring at my hand. It was like a work of art. The mehendi had kept Arija’s word (at least for me). And that was how I got pulled into the world of Mehendi art.

There is something extremely feminine about mehendi. You just feel that extra girly vibes when you have it on your hands. You seem to notice it every time you raise your hands to get something done and then, notice the beautiful mehendi, the colors, the darkness and completely forget what you were about to do. Yeah, or maybe that’s just me.

Some see it as a temporary tattoo. And I guess, in a way, it is. But it is also a form of art. Put this art on your hands this month and feel the mehendi take you over.