“Hey Mom, I’m heading to the local library to get a tattoo! I’ll see you for dinner.” No, it’s not some new counter-cultural rebellion. It’s Okemos’ Anshu Varma and her company “Henna By Design,” teaching teens at libraries all over Michigan to get gussied up with henna.
Dressed up Differently for Valentine’s DayTo celebrate a holiday like Valentine’s Day, most Americans think chocolates, roses, and fancy dresses. In India, Sri Lanka, and Nepal, however, women get festive in a very different way. A Michigander in New Delhi might choose to celebrate romance in the local style by slipping into one of the many local beauty salons that specialize in mehndi, or henna tattooing, rather than going to get her nails done on Feb. 14.
But here in Lansing it isn’t so easy to find a beauty shop where you can get an up-do, mani-pedi, and mehndi before a wedding, holiday, or other celebration. That’s not to say it’s impossible, however. In fact, you may even learn to do it yourself. Okemos resident, Anshu Varma, travels all around Michigan teaching mehndi to teens and tweens in her “Henna By Design” workshops, distilling myths about everything from mehndi to Slumdog Millionaire.
A Call to Arms (and Palms and Soles)Why do mehndi you ask? Anshu answers, “Because it’s fun!” She hopes that projects and art forms like mehndi will give young people a productive and communal outlet for their creative energy.
In 2003 she was the mother of a freshly teenage daughter, Maya, and recognized that teens were, as she says, “missing out by spending weekends at video arcades and movie theaters.” The local libraries and museums were full of ideas fit for the young mind, yet they were sparsely populated by teenagers. Anshu envisioned enticing the elusive youngsters into those unpopular haunts by rendering information interactive with fun mehndi workshops.
Her first workshop was at the
Okemos Library in 2004 and since then she has held them at libraries, museums, and festivals all over Michigan, from the
Holt/Delhi Library to the
Dennos Museum Center in Traverse City. She is also one of the annual Talkers and Tellers at the
Great Lakes Folk Festival where she bedecks the public for a small fee (which she in turn donates back to the festival), and the 2002 and 2003 recipient of the
Michigan Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Award.
LuAnne Kozma, MSU Museum’s Assistant curator of folk arts, and coordinator of Michigan’s Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program remarks that Anshu has a unique ability to teach and touch people. “Mehndi involves getting up-close, touching people,” says Kozma, “and Anshu is so incredibly warm and welcoming that she creates an easy environment to touch and be touched, to share and experience.” Ms. Kozma has been involved with “Henna By Design” workshops for nearly fifteen years, and says that Anshu is just as passionate about teaching today as she was at the beginning. She also encourages anyone and everyone to go, saying that “Anshu’s designs are beautiful and in the end, even if henna fades, it’s an experience you never forget.”
The Difference Between Mehndi and HennaHenna is the common name of the plant from which henna paste is derived. It has been used since the Bronze Age to dye skin, hair, and fabric. Mehndi is the Hindi and Urdu word for the application of henna on the palms, feet, and soles of (most often) women. It is appropriate for shindigs of all sorts, from marriage to pregnancy, Diwali to prom. It is traditionally a way for women in a community to welcome a celebration and is especially important during the dressing of the bride, often the first item she adorns for her wedding day.
Mehndi or ‘henna tattooing’ is common in New Delhi, India, where Anshu Varma grew up. Many still pass the art form down from mother to daughter, and when a family member can’t be found to embellish your body, many beauticians specialize in henna application. However, when Anshu came to
Michigan State in 1985 there was no one to turn to when she wanted to brighten up the holidays with henna, so she learned to do it herself.
She quickly saw that she was a gifted henna artist, surmising that the genes run through her down her artistic mother’s side of the family. She began mixing her own paste, and was encouraged by MSU’s Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program to master the traditional art form. Now, women who would have had no options turn to her on their wedding days and for other events, and teenage girls who may never have heard of mehndi get their creative energies flowing at her workshops.
Henna By Design WorkshopsTraditional motifs are often lines and dots, paisley, leaves, and flowers, but nowadays anything goes. Likewise, henna paste remains the darkest and longest on the palms of hands and soles of feet, and they’ve thus been traditionally the most painted parts of the body. But henna is often applied to the tops of the hands and feet as well, and at Anshu’s workshops, where the fun and creative atmosphere are the most important aspects, henna could be applied right up the arms and legs if a workshopper felt so inspired.
Anshu says that attendees are “very curious and delighted with henna tattooing.” And because mehndi is cradled in a tradition that is foreign to many Americans, learning about it often leads to other inquiries about life in India. According to Anshu, “the Lansing area, particularly, has an international flavor, a diversity in culture and an open mindedness about trying new things.” She loves how ready workshop-comers are to immerse themselves in not only this one aspect of Indian culture, but all facets of Indian life, and her workshops are open forums for the curious soul.
In Anshu’s opinion, Lansing is the perfect combination of culture and nature, “it’s a great place to be without being in a big city,” she says, a great place to learn, teach and experience.
How do you drape a saree? What kinds of foods do you eat in India? What languages are spoken in India? Is life in India just like in Slumdog Millionaire? If you’ve ever asked yourself these questions or have been a bit envious of henna designs passing by you on the soles of a fellow pedestrian, you can catch Anshu at her next local workshops:
Julianne VanWagenen spent eight years away from Lansing and is happy to be back. She is a pillar of the community, providing folks with food and drink at Crunchy's of East Lansing, spreading local info through Capital Gains and getting people acquainted with the Lansing sky at Abram's Planetarium's weekend shows.
Dave Trumpie is the managing photographer for Capital Gains. He is a freelance photographer and owner of Trumpie Photography.
Photos:
Okemos's Anshu Varma teaches a class in the art of mehndi at the Mason Library
All Photographs © Dave Trumpie