Page 31 - Seniorstoday February 2022 Issue

mehendi remains on a bride’s palms, she
Among the Marwaris, the back of the palm
must be adorned to ensure the health and
long life of brothers. With this beautiful
art, not only the bride, but her whole family
shares in the abundance and blessings
showered by gods.
The most popular among the latest trends
are embellished designs, which use colour,
crystals, Swarovski and are dusted over
with glitters or metallic dusts- the idea being
to adorn the bride’s body in imitation of
jewellery. Historically, henna was not only
a popular among the rich but the poor, who
could not afford jewellery, and used it to
decorate their bodies as well.
Gone are the days when mothers and
female family misranis and joshans – those
formidable Brahmin women who presided
with great authority over all rituals and
modes of celebrations were invited to apply
mehendi on the hands- but never the feet.
They were too exalted to touch the feet of
us mere mortals. In these Instagram and
Facebook times, professional mehendi
artists who are ‘with it’ the latest trends are
stalked and booked months in advance.
After all, every girl wants to look like a
princess on her special day and post wow
Instagrammable pictures.
Tradition holds that for as long as the
SENIORS TODAY | ISSUE #32 | FEBRUARY 2022
is excused from all housework! Perhaps
the popular Bollywood taunt “hathon
me Mehendi laga rahkhe ho kya? ” to an
ineffectual and useless villain or hero, has its
origins in this custom.
Mehendi and its cultural trajectory has
been deeply influenced by television serials
and Hindi films and are often celebrated in
Bollywood style. Film-makers Karan Johar
and Aditya Chopra, purveyors of the big fat
Indian wedding whose dreamy, aesthetically
pleasing wedding scenes have captured
the imagination of young girls, who want
similar sequences, clothes and dance steps.
While the age-old belief was that the darker
the stain the more loving the mother-in-
law will be, today the idea of a mother-in-
law’s love is replaced with that of the new
husband’s. Adding the groom’s name hidden
somewhere in the intricate patterns leads to
many minutes and moments of hilarity with
the groom searching for his name, either
during the ceremony or on their wedding
night.
Mehendi celebrations are all about
colour, trippy, witty, floral decorations,
palate tickling food, music and dance. And
some of the most colourful and trendy-
traditional clothes. Bandhani and leheriya
swirl and twirl in a cascade of hues; gota,
mirror work and crystals razzle and dazzle;
traditional lehengas shimmer, paired
with contemporary crop tops and tinkling
bangles. Under a canopy of flowers and
drapes the bride sits on piles of cushions,
or in a beautifully decorated jhoola,
surrounded by her friends. Mothers and
aunts, sisters and cousins, come bearing
trays with jewellery made of flowers. To
the sounds of soulful music she is adorned
and bedecked with exquisite floral creations
perfuming the air with fragrance.
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