May the force…
Tejas Menon is a musician and artist from Mumbai who calls Star Wars “his religion”. As a result, choosing something from Lucasverse to be his first tattoo came as no surprise. He chose a binary landscape sunset in red and gold from the 1977 film A New Hope, originally called Star Wars. “The scene is crucial. Luke Skywalker has just been told by his uncle that he can’t pursue his dream. He looks at the sun setting and tries to imagine a better future. Shivani Jveri from Stickity Tats located in Andheri Mumbai created this hand-poked piece of art.
The room for mushrooms
K Shriya Sharma from Delhi, India, was always interested in getting a tattoo with a nature theme. Her fascination with mushrooms grew when she read British biologist Merlin Sheldrake’s book Entangled Life and watched the Netflix documentary Fantastic Fungi. She found the design online. “It perfectly encapsulates who I am and what I stand for: I’m a rooter for the underdog.” She got inked at Bengaluru’s Skindeep Tattoo Studio.
That’s me in the corner
Suyash Shrivastava is a 33-year-old film director who got small tattoos of his past and presents on his forearm. “There is a compass at the wrist, which represents my wanderer side,” he says. There’s ‘s also a line from the Gita, “Do your duties without thinking about the results”, the sign for Vasudhaiva Kutumbkam, and his dad’s Fujifilm camera. “The geometric lines coming out of it are a reminder of my father. He taught me the sense of framing.” He got inked at Swastika Tattoos in Hauz Khas, Delhi.
Ain’t no mountain high enough
Gurugram resident Parul Pratap’s tattoo, a pine tree tattooed on the side of her wrist, marks a milestone. The 46-year-old executive chef and entrepreneur got inked upon completing eight years as a chef at Delhi’s mountain café-themed restaurant Music & Mountains. “It took more than 16 years for me to land my dream job,” she says. It is her sixth tattoo. “All my tattoos are placed in a manner that they can be easily concealed with clothing or accessories.” She got inked at Morphology Studio in Delhi.
Totoro forever
Nupoor Bansal is a 32-year-old freelance postproduction supervisor. She got her second tattoo in the first half of this year. Totoro is a character in the 1988 movie My Neighbor Totoro. It represents her love of anime. “It’s been my go-to comfort movie forever.” So she jumped when she found an offer on one-of-a-kind themed designs at Iron Buzz Studios in Bandra, Mumbai. This is her 2nd tattoo.
Your pet project
Nayantara Kumar-Shetty, head of talent management at A&R + Label Operations at Misfits Inc in Mumbai recently got three tattoos on impulse. Flyin Munki created the pair of matching cat tattoos, which are a tribute to Nayantara’s pets Akira and Mooncake. She also got two orchids. “I have three more tattoos, a meditating monkey called Monkey Shanti [Mann ki Shanti], a set of stars, and the word Faith on my wrist,” she says. Puncturewala Tattoos, a Mumbai-based pop-up shop, inked the cats.
The difference between a rabbit hole and a landmark
Tsheringchoden, a photographer and member of the social and content teams, was 26 when she got an Alice in Wonderland ink tattoo on her arm. “Even as a kid, I’ve always related to Alice and her sense of wonder. Growing up in a strict household only fueled my curiosity about the world. The tattoo symbolizes being brave, taking more chances, and being curious,” says Tshering. She is from Kalimpong, West Bengal. She got tattooed at Tattoo Club Gangtok in Sikkim.
Little Miss Sunshine
Mansi Goda is a 26-year-old business analyst who has a sunflower tattoo on her shoulder. She can see it all day. “Sunflowers have been my favorite flowers for years because they have one survival instinct: to look towards the sun/the light, while still being rooted. And the fact that the brown part in the center is the most useful one, even though it’s not the prettiest. So, the idea is to love me even when I’m all brown parts, no yellow,” she says. She got inked at Rebel Ink Studio in Delhi’s Hauz Khas Village late last year.
Faithfulness
Harshit Mitra, also known as Hashbass and a bassist from Mumbai, got two new tattoos last year, totaling 11. On his left arm is his late mom’s name in Japanese, with the flowers she loved, and some black and white piano keys. “It is the memory of her glorious life and the impact she had on me.” He also has an unfinished rose and the word Faith. “I’ve left it unfinished as the rose depicts the uncertain situation where faith is alive,” he says. His tattoos were done by Devilz Tattooz Delhi.
Divine power
Megha Marwah (33), who is the head of the strategy at an agency digital in Gurugram, had a tattoo done earlier this year with the Triple Goddess symbol. “It’s also called the Triple Moon symbol. It represents divine feminine power and is a constant reminder to myself that I’m a powerful woman at every moment of my journey – be it the highs or the lows.” She got inked at Devil’s Tattooz in Gururgam.
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