Is getting a tattoo a good idea?

Almost every tech-savvy alpha male on Indian streets sports some gadget with an 'i' to it. It's an expensive trend that makes the present an obsolete past before you can even encash your paycheck. On the other hand, getting inked is probably the only trend that has been born before and yet surpassed the Apple revolution.

Everybody's got one, just like everyone's got an iPad. Or have dreamt of getting one, just like everyone who doesn't own an iPad. But ask any tattoo-enthusiast and they'll always say this: "It'll always be unique. And it'll never grow old. It'll never stop being cool even if you get a second one. Heck, I create my wardrobe around mine."

So if given a choice, which trend would you stick to? The in-connectwith-the-world iPad 2 fl aunted by A to Z when the iPad 3 is waiting around the corner to kick its ass into the Recycle Bin...or a brazillion-yearold art that's survived the deaths, generations and regenerations of languages, books, fashions and has imbedded itself in various cultures (we're talking about your grandmother's swastika-bearing arm here) to achieve a standard of 'cool' that even the colour black can't match? (Which is ironic, because black ink is the base of most tattoos.)

Doesn't mean we're promoting the ink machine. We're not even here to explore the origin of indelible ink or how unsafe it can be or what design will separate you from the wannabe nerd herd and the jock's fraternity. You have Google for that. What we're wondering is why this has suddenly picked momentum here in the third (our) generation after being regarded as a religious symbol in the first and listed in the most-abhorred list by the second (yeah, your parents) right after sex and drugs.

Maybe its Kat Von Dee's embroidered bicep splashed across AXN, aka global connect. "Tattoos have stayed cool and will remain cool, because they're so closely linked with our thoughts and emotions. They evolve with our mind," says celebrity stylist Aalim Hakim of the famed Hakim's Aalim. Your reasons for getting it done don't really matter to anybody but you. But if you've been dying to get one, figure out why you'd want it. No really. Consider it. Because your decision stays on your skin for life.

"I love my girl"
Saif's arm, Deepika's neck. A trend of capturing the most powerful feeling in permanence has erupted. "Even if your memories of love dim, you'll always feel a surge of remembrance of being in that moment," says Hakim. "It's not necessarily a good thing though-maybe your love for your parents will last a lifetime and serve as an unending mark of respect for them, but getting a spouse's name or a girlfriend's photo can be an everlasting painful reminder if you. ever break it off: you have to have the maturity to want to deal with knowing that you loved someone as much as that," says Hakim.

More than that, you'll have to end up explaining to your next girl, why you can't get her name tattooed on your butt-and though your persuasion levels are cool, social pedestals of various levels have been set between her and her predecessor. Tricky. And an aide memoire of why, sometimes your head should rule over your relentless emotions. Or just calculate the cost of skin grafting, laser treatments and a redone tattoo plus the pain and minus your ego. Not worth it.

"I've got a story to tell..."
Experts tell us that speaking constitutes only 15 per cent of communication. The other 85 is all body language and image. "Most people want to know what my tat means-for the record I've got the eye of Ra on my bicep," says New Delhi-based tattoo enthusiast Ashish Pratap Singh.

"Once they've understood it, they then begin to associate and accept it as a part of my personality." An image is already being portrayed without the tattoo holder having spoken even a single word, or made eye contact, says Mumbai-based image consultant Rita Gangwani.

"I lifted 40kg for this every day"
Tattoos aren't exactly unhealthy, but needles and ink haven't had much in common with fi tness. Until now. "You don't get a tattoo to get fit," says New Delhi-based photographer Rishi Taneja who's been inked over 15 times. "You get fit and then get a tattoo- there's a world of difference." For most gym goers, sporting a tattoo can be a subconscious motivator.

"Losing weight or bulking up post getting 'marked' could ruin the tattoo because your skin stretches," says lawyer Alok Bhatia who went from scrawny to an MH Cover Guy. It's blatant boasting, but it's not shallow. Even if you've achieved nothing else, you've got a great body. "You want to show off your body-be it chiselled abs, great biceps or a ripped back-a tat only enhances the visual appeal," says Bhatia. Which, as you know, is the veritable tip of the sex-appeal iceberg. You want her appraising eye over your body-nothing will attract it faster than a tattoo over your flexed muscles.

"I want to be different"
Exclusivity is the most obvious aspect of getting inked. It portrays you in a light that's different from the ordinary two-legged, two-armed, two-eyed dark-haired Indian. It could tell a story. And even if it doesn't, it piques the interest of those who see it. It's not so much a useful extension of your body, as much as wearing an intriguing thought on your sleeve.

It shows off your creativity-it can unleash an imagination of the things you want to be, but logically can't. Classic example: "I can't fl y, but the freedom of flight fascinates me," says Taneja. "So I got a tattoo with wings to prove that even if I can't take off, I can dream about it and use it metaphorically."

"I never want to slip up again"
A divorce. A moment of weakness. A cheated relationship. Loss of control. Everyone has demons in their closet that cannot be compared with another's in dimensions of enormity or suffering or happiness, because you truly cannot walk a mile in another's shoes. But it serves as a token. Maybe to never slip back into a bad situation. Maybe to remind yourself that accomplishing this phase proved you had the strength to pull through.

In conclusion, it's a great story to tell, because it's yours with a little moral attached to it. "My tattoo is my cue to rethink situations calmly," says 22-year-old Aditya Kumar Bhattarcharya.

"I went through what can be described as a text-book case of a messy breakup that took over my life. It's not as bad as other messes that people have to face, but it threw off my ability to rationalise situations without breaking into a rage. My tattoo's a yin-yang for balance, inscribed within a sun, which is what my name means, on my arm. It's easily within my vision and catching sight of it helps me balance my thoughts and emotions every single day."

Aditya's point here is not to tell the world what he went through or to use it as a pick-up line for a pretty girl who eyes his tattoo (well, sometimes). "It's a deeper connect with himself to be a better person. And that's why picking a design is half the battle," says Hakim.

If you have a connect, if you have a meaning, you'll never get bored of your mark. Think of it as a modern age battle scar that keeps you aware of how to act. Quite the universal parallel of the typical rebellion that a tattoo is itself branded as.

"It's for the heck of it..."
That's what New Delhi-based stylist Mohit Rai, 25 told me about his latest permanent acquisition. "It's no secret that impulsive tattoos sans any relation to one's life are generally looked down upon as shallow," says Hakim. "But they shouldn't be-more then the classic exclusivity of a tattoo, they serve as reminders of impulsion or a need to break free from a routine."

If you really think about it, our bodies and minds need to be shocked from time to time, be it through a completely different workout or a short vacation, some impulsive retail therapy or even food patterns, all to effectively stop it from stagnating and falling into a rut. An impulsive tattoo might not serve to impress a whole bunch of judgementalists out there, but its rebellious streak definitely lines up some food for thought: the pain of getting a tattoo is tripled in our hyperactive minds-to actually complete the ordeal and come out branded gives a sense of accomplishment and a permanent reminder that if this can be done, so can other things-"it's all about channeling your motivation right," says Dr Himanshu Saxena, consultant psychiatrist, Jaipur Golden Hospital.

"Like saying, if I've done this, why can't I go ahead and get that damn promotion?" Remember when your standard excuse for shovelling junk food into your mouth was "being a growing boy"? A broken window, dirty clothes, uncontrollable inappropriate laughter were all a given, all freedom that an adult can only occasionally get away with. "A heck-for-it tattoo, gives you that cheap thrill, like breaking a traffic signal-it lets you live a little," says Alim.

Scientifically, it might serve as an adrenalin rush but it also frees you from the structured boundaries of life, letting you feel a little younger, a little brash, a little more confident- shouldn't make your tattoo the prerequisite before a nerve-racking office meeting-you've bent the rules because you couldn't break them out and out, but you've proved it's possible to do so without landing yourself into too much trouble.

Are tattoos all that bad?
HIV equates generation gap. And here's why: your parents were caught in a limbo between the then new discovery of infectious needles, and outdated painful methods of branding religion or identity from their parent's time. Cue back to Virgin Mobile's mom who had to be tied to a chair before her gothic, rebellious daughter could reveal her tattoo to her.

"With disposable needles, over-the-counter anti-bacterial ointments, a little more knowledge and a lot more creativity, the art of getting needled has become a lot safer," says Hakim. And hopefully on its way to being called an 'art'. Considering Funky Monkey seems to be the Mecca of tattoos in North India, Indian tattoo artists are more than a hop, skip and jump away from appearing on Miami Ink, much less getting signed up with the crew even if you take into consideration that tattooing's still in its fledgling stage here.

But think about it...
Mind over matter, as the popular saying goes. "I'm not advocating that tattoos are an appropriate outlet, but psychologically if that's what gives a man a feel-good factor, then I don't see anything wrong with it," says Dr Samir Parikh, head of mental health and behavioural sciences, Max Healthcare, New Delhi.

You may not have achieved the powers of Superman if you've got a Superman tattoo or proven your worth to God by getting Hanuman inked across your back. Dr Parikh also added that anybody who treats their tattoo as more than an accessory might seem slightly destabilised. But then again, he's never had a tattoo. And I didn't admit it to him, but I have one. And while it might say that I'm slightly unhinged (as per his reasoning only), my tattoo gets the compliments, and marks me as with the quality I associate most closely with myself.

Call it a trend, call it madness, call it a delicious feeling of bending the rules and exercising a little flexibility into a strictly formatted life. You're doing what you can, to motivate your mind. And even if these motivational methods- just like the iPad 2-eventually become obsolete, getting marked, not marred is one that's not dying out anytime soon.

You can't change your spots: Don't get marked here!

It's not exactly difficult to discern, where you shouldn't get a tattoo. But just in case you've over exceeded your crossing over to the 'rebellious' side by a kilometre or two, avoid the inside of your mouth, your nipples, genital parts and near your eyes.

Also avoid areas where X rays are done: the presence of nonstandardised ingredients in tattoo pigments may produce difficulties with radiologic imaging. In areas of which MRI may be required, burning sensation and intense pain over tattooed sites that contain heavy deposits of metallic oxides or iron or titanium have been reported. These particles may act as conductors during magnetic resonance imaging.

Tattoo erasers: Where there's a will, there's a way

Soap, water and kerosene might work on holi colours, but not tattoo ink. Removal methods are available, but complicated and expensive. Apart from covering it with another design, these are abrasive techniques that remove the superficial epidermal layer and allow the pigment to leach out of the skin.

Translation: Leaves visible scars. And although laser removal is generally safe, skin hypo or hyper pigmentation and hypersensitive reactions (especially among people who experienced this reaction with tattoo application) are potential complications. Your best bet is the development of a microencapsulated biodegradable and bio-absorbable ink.

The ink is contained in beads made of a synthetic polymer that's commonly used in surgical glue and artificial joints. Like other tattoo inks, it provides permanent skin marking. However, when exposed to laser energy, the beads fall apart and the exposed pigment is reabsorbed by the body.

Source: Dr Deepali Bhardwaj, consultant, dermatology and cosmetology, Rockland Hospital and Dr KK Aggarwal, consultant, medicine and cardiology, Moolchand Medcity.

Mumbai ink: It's not just on your skin, it's in your mind

The repercussions of getting a tattoo are many. Here's how to overcome them...

Tattoos generate envy... Beat it! The tendency to compare is human nature and if you're going to compare your tattoo to someone else's, months after you got it, you're going to hate something that's now part of your skin for life.

Tattoos have a risk associated with potentiating low selfesteem, shows a US study. But it also is a great way to show the world how comfortable you are in your own skin to draw attention towards a particular body part. Beat it! Whatever you get, be comfortable with it.

Even tattoos fade... Beat it! By skipping the alcohol. A drink or two in your system causes your blood to thin, which accelerates minor bleeding. This delivers a faded tattoo.

Getting inked hurts! Beat it! By talking to your tattoo artist or a friend: It keeps you aware of what's happening and can be a good distraction from the pain.

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