An enchanting encounter in Little India ...

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Posted by Jewel on November 06, 1999 at 14:26:54:


I was at Little India last Thursday checking out the Deepavali
celebrations. Man, I'm glad I did that !! The whole place is so
beautiful .... there's a bazaar in the marketplace. I was looking at
the colouful array of what-nots when I saw 2 girls walking hurriedly
past me with both hands stuck out in front of them. I managed to catch
a quick glimpse of the most intricate work of mehndi I've ever seen.
After taking 2 steps, I saw 2 more girls walking towards me in the
same fashion. This time I stepped right into their tracks and asked
them where they had their mehndi done and they pointed a little to my
left where I saw an Indian lady drawing on another girl. So I walked
over and watched her. She was using a cone, the paste she used was the
palest green colour I've ever seen. She looked up when I came over and
I asked her how much for a palm work and she said S$10 for one side.

One thing that fascinates me is that she was so deft with her strokes
and she produced the tiniest lines (as fine as a sewing thread) !!
Overcome with curiosity and excitement, I extended my right hand and
told her I'm next :-). I told her to draw whatever design that came in
her head and she did just that. Before drawing, she applied some
medicated oil on my hand (asked her to do the top of my hand because
that area just won't take henna colour nicely). The oil felt cool on
my hand and a little heaty. She has this really dark stain on her
right hand and she told me she had left the paste on 1 1/2 hours only
!!

After parting with my 10 dollars, I walked around Little India with
the paste drying on my skin. No NewSkin, no wraps, no lemon+sugar. The
paste was incredibly sticky enough not to crumble off my hand even
after it has dried. The weather was gloriously warm ~30 deg C and I
was sweating a little. When I got home, it was 2 1/2 hours after
application. I scraped the paste off and rubbed medicated oil on my
hand. The colour was orange, not too dark, not light either. I thought
I was really screwed up so I didn't take any more notice of it. Until
several hours later when my mom told me that the colour has turned
darker. I stared at the design in amazement !!! The colour has darken
more than 3 times it's original colour. The next day, it has turned
even darker with some parts black! I could NEVER get colour that dark
on the top of my hand with my usual henna (and at such a short time
too). I have dark skin and it's very hard to get a dark stain on that
area (no problems on my palms). It seems like the stain oxidises over
time, it just gets darker and darker. It makes me VERY happy just
looking at it :-) ...

I'd like to raise a few questions to the forum :

When you mix the henna powder with whatever recipe you have, did the
paste turned really dark (almost black) ? The paste that she used was
pale green (??) and has no smell except the natural henna smell. So
I'm really perplexed. She told me she added just tea in her mix (but
of course she wouldn't reveal her secret to me).

I took LOTS of pictures of her and her friend at work and alot of
their designs. I'll try to post them on the net when they are ready.

Your thoughts :-)

Peace !!

~Jewel~ - who's in love with her right hand :-)



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