And I got inked

And I got inked

I remember the school days when I would draw small drawings, texts on the back of my hand, arm, feet. I am sure you all did it. But I might be little different to you. I continued this habit till my Bachelor's and even do now. When I felt anxious during exams and couldn't focus, I would just start doodling on my body.

Grade 8. I had this stupid idea of having a permanent mark on my hand. I just took a blade (sterilized it by heating, of course) and started cutting marks on my hand and putting colors in the cuts. I have no idea why I did this. I just wanted to have one. Well that didn't work much. 

Grade 10 probably. I saw about this traditional method of tattooing. They would pierce swiftly with a pin/needle or something like that and make tattoos. I remembered the traditional tattoos in Nepali context. Women used to have these dots on their faces and hands. One of my classmates had it too. I got curious. I began researching about it. Well by then, I didn't have access to internet. I asked my mom and some neighbors. People used charcoal and goat milk to make such tattoos. 

Yes, you guessed right. I thought of trying it. Stupid, aren't I? :)

Well, goat's milk was a bit too much. But I tried the needle method. I took a needle, sterilized it and pierced my skin while dropping colors in it. This time, it worked a little though. The mark remained till a week or so.

Never tried anything as such after that. Because I knew it wasn't going to work out.I had to get a tattoo if I wanted something permanent.

Few months back, suddenly the tattoo thing hit me. No idea why. I started brainstorming about it. I had no idea what I wanted. But I wanted it minimal. Minimalism has been influencing me a lot. :)

I started researching some tattoos that artist had, that programmers had, etc. I wasn't going anywhere. 

I wanted to have the tattoo a pencil,looking like it is tied around my wrist. I tried designing it. But, I later thought it would look too BIG.

One day, I was reflecting about myself. I was thinking what defines me. Then I remembered my Tile design that I did long ago.

ART, DESIGN, PROGRAMMING, MUSIC, PHOTOGRAPHY, CYCLING, NEPAL.

These things would roughly define me.I did a rough sketch of icons being very minimalistic. I liked it. I wanted it to go around my arm. But the icons wouldn't be enough to cover around, maintaining their ratio. So, I had to add more icons. I added GEMINI, PEACE, LOVE


It was Mehndi day at the Teach for Nepal SLC camp. Girls were having mehndi on their hand. I thought of testing the tattoo design to see how it looked. I asked Nija to try it out using a mehndi. But she though Mehndi might not be a very good idea, so she did it using a marker instead. It looked pretty good. I felt good about it. I decided to have it.


I saw the INFINITY and PULSE tattoo in some posts. I liked it.It had meanings. I kept them in parking lot, meaning, I would use them if possible.

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Today, I was bored at home. Ra-zone Tattoo posted a tattoo "Live and let live" that he did for his client. It was beautiful and minimal. I remembered my design. I had time. I thought of getting it. I searched for my design in the photo gallery, couldn't find. Thank god, I found the rough sketch paper. And I went to Ra-zone Tattoo studio.

I was seriously worried what kind of guy he would be. But he was a fine young man, cool to talk to, and artistic. We talked about him, tattoos, history of tattoo in Nepal. The design was ready and he started inking me.

When it was about to get finished, I remembered the semi-colon tattoo. I had read this article on The Meaning of Semi-Colon Tattoo. I found it so relatable to my life.

"A semicolon is used when an author could've chosen to end their sentence, but chose not to. The author is you and the sentence is your life." 

This line had touched me. I wanted to have it too. And so I had it. It wasn't planned but it happened. :)

Back home, I was writing this blog. My mom comes in my room, sees the plastic wrapped around my hand and asks why was my hand wrapped. I showed the tattoo. I was expecting a "you did stupid thing again". Last time I had a dreadlock, she didn't fancy it much. But, this time, I got an unexpected reaction.She was looking at the cycle icon and loving it. :)

I am not only happy about the tattoo but the process. I had been watching LA Ink and Miami Ink programs in TLC channel since long. I always loved it. Today, I went through the process myself and learnt a lot myself.

In the future, don't be surprised if I happened to turn into a tattooist. :)
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Talking about Ra-zone Tattoo

- Rajan Maharjan is an award winner tattooist, young and good to talk to. He is good at his work, no doubt. More than a great tattooist, he is a great person. I would feel uncomfortable having a tattoo if the guy/girl inking me was a egoist, an unsociable person who would just tattoo. But he is a wonderful guy. If you are thinking of having a tattoo, I would personally recommend him. :)


Update: I got a second tattoo. :)