Rang De Mehndi

Photograph: Vijayalakshmi Rajendran

Thanks viji for the beautiful snap. I am guilty of slightly editing it to concentrate on the theme of the post but I am sure you will forgive me.

I am sure all of you know where this title was lifted from. I watched the movie without even knowing the meaning of "Rang De Basanti". Infact I was surprised when even my colleagues admitted that they weren't sure about the exact meaning. Only later on I figured it as "Paint it Yellow" where Basanti is the yello color due to the mustard's flower blooming in full swing.

Anyway here Mehndi is applied to a bride for marriage. Isn't it amazing as to how a properly designed mehndi, can enhance the grandeur and elegance of the bride? I know it is supposed to be feminine but as a kid, I used to say fight for equality - literally. Which meant that I sported mehndi once in a while. Though no one had the patience for such intricate patterns - it was more of few circles, blocks etc on my hand. One can compare it to the cave paintings :)

Now I am restricting to applying mehndi for others. Anyone with a scissor can cut an hair, yet everyone goes to saloons. Similarly any one can do this, but for best results come to me for Kolam and Mehndis (or "marudhani" as it is called in Tamil). Satisfaction guaranteed :)

And if you are sudasudacoffee reader, I will offer special discounts. Just quote "ssc-a12c" as offer code at the time of billing......