VICTORY *LAURA SHAH*

By Tsering Tenzing Ghale @ Story Of My Tattoo

I had been restless. Why??? It is because of this one particular tattoo that never got away from my mind. Every time, I passed by artist Joe (Five Keys Tattoo Studio, UK) there were crowds who had gathered to get the glimpse of his convention work. I am short so there is no way I could get a glimpse in that crowd of people. Sometimes they were tattoo lovers while other times camera people and journalists. And when I got the chance I did not have the courage to go ask single information about the tattoo nor the artist neither about the client.

At the end of the day, I pushed myself further. How far I had pushed myself I don’t have an idea. But it was far enough, I think. There were few people around artist Joe. I stood by a camera girl. She did not speak much. Maybe because she was busy capturing every single moment. All I can say is maybe this and maybe that. Before she took her final photo, she turned towards me. It made me nervous. I stood speechless. I had no words. The only thing I could do and did was smile and bowed my head down to say ¨Hello¨. She smiled back. Aww, I wish I could have captured that smile of hers. It was one of the most mesmerizing and confident smile I had seen in the convention.

After the camera girl left, I was the only one left. I watched in curiosity as if I was an artist or a tattoo student. Now, you may be wondering how come I was the only one left, right? That´s true, I was the only audience. It is because at the end of the day, there were different categories of competition like best of the day, color works, black and white design and so on. This was the time that artist could focus completely in their work without any audiences or just few.

Maybe, artist Joe had noticed my presence. While he had to fill ink in the machine, he smiled at me. I did the same thing as I did with the camera girl; smile and bow my head to say ¨Hello¨. I had no expected that artist Joe would smile at me or anything. It is because, hundreds of audience like myself stopped by in curiosity but no idea of any sort that i am certain. Before, he began his work after a tiny break I spoke out, ¨Beautiful work sir. Honestly, it is really amazing.¨

¨Thank you! ¨, he replied joyfully. It made me feel lighter and increased my confident level to speak to him.

¨Sir, would you mind if I could write about this tattoo? ¨, I asked with much appreciation my hand pointed at the tattoo. I thought he would say ´No´. But he did not. Instead, he said, ¨Well, you will have to ask her if you want to write. I am happy if you write about it.¨

She is called Laura Shah a care-assistant since last 5 months in United Kingdom. She had accompanied artist Joe to Nepal. Ms Laura was on her phone while artist Joe and I had a small conversation. I do not know if she heard what we had spoken about since she had earphones on. It was a good distraction because the tattoo was a really long session one. With a big smile on my face i greeted Ms. Laura.

¨Hello Laura, I am Tse-ring. I write about tattoos. My facebook page is called Story Of My Tattoo. So far I have written about 30 stories all posted and about 12 stories are pending because I have sent them to the respective owners for review and necessary correction. I was hoping if I could write about your tattoos if you may please! ¨

¨Yes, sure! That would be cool. What do you want to know about my tattoo? ¨

¨Well, it’s very simple. I will ask you little information about your tattoos and about yourself. You can give me as much information as you wish. Once I have enough information I will prepare my first draft and sent it you so that you can also work on the story. And once we have worked on the story and you say it is okay then only I will post it on the social media. Without your approval the story will not be posted anyway.¨

¨Aye, I like the idea and it’s different. Let´s do it. It definitely sounds interesting.¨

¨So you mentioned that you are a care-taker, right? Is it a place where young kids are? ¨

¨No, No. It is a place where there are old people. People who cannot look after themselves. I just love this work. It has been 5 months now.¨

¨What made you choose this profession? ¨

¨I did not. It chose me. After school, I did not know what to do. There was a vacancy for a care-taker. I applied for it and I got it. At first, it was not as interesting as I thought it to be. It was hard. I guess every profession is that way. In time, everything changed. Now I love it so much. It is very fascinating. I enjoy caring for people. Helping other people especially the older generation is so much fun and there is so much love in it. Every one treats me like their own daughter and this affection brightens my day every single day. It is just so lovely and beautiful…….¨

¨Ahuh, that is so amazing. Congratulations Laura…..so this back piece, is it your first tattoo? ¨

¨Not really! I think this one is my third or fourth tattoo. Let me count.¨ Laura´s previous tattoos are on her hands. The first one is on her wrist. It is related to Romeo and Juliet. We all know the story about Romeo and Juliet, right? I do. I have read it and watched the movie starting Leonard Di Caprio. It is romantic but sad.”

Laura´s first tattoo defines violent end of a story. Just like in the story Romeo and Juliet. It also defines her relationship as a recovery symbol. The artist who had inked the tattoos was from her hometown. The artist was just some guy who had little knowledge about tattooing according to Laura. I did not ask much about her first tattoo because I believed that there were more emotions and personal incidents. So I left it behind and moved to the back piece delightedly.

¨Could you share about your back piece? ¨

¨Hm...It´s a dot work (ornamental)...I like the style in general…..¨

¨Why did you choose artist Joe? ¨

¨I had studied his past works; they are amazing. I also like his taste of art; style and way of tattooing. I was on a holiday and Joe needed a large canvas for the convention. And so I gave him one. So far it is going really good. We were also featured in yesterday´s news headlines on the local newspaper. I am really happy the way the work is begin carried on. Today is our second day and second session. Joe has a deadline to complete it by tomorrow evening. I am confident that he will meet his target…...¨

¨Do you have a specific meaning for the back piece? ¨

¨Well, ahm…few years ago I had eating disorders. It was bad, really bad time of life (Laura said laughingly that confused me)...I would say it is a tattoo that represents recovery. It represents my fight against eating disorder and my victory over it. Yes, I would say it is the definition of my victory. Lastly, it fills in the blank space and it means different to different people, is it not???¨

¨This is really interesting, fascinating too. I do not know if I have missed anything. Besides the back piece, your first tattoo and current job would you like to share anything? ¨

¨Ahm… I do not know. I think that´s pretty much it. Oh yes, where do you post the story? ¨

¨I have a blog on tumblr, BlogSpot and quora. I post in these blogs and promote it on my Facebook page; Story Of My Tattoo.¨

¨Ok¨

¨Yes, can I add you on Facebook? ¨

¨Sure.¨

¨Here is my phone. Can you type your name? ¨

Unfortunately, my phone was too slow. I check the credit, it was near to zero. This made me very nervous and uncomfortable. Laura signed in her Facebook. But the convention Wi-Fi was slower that I could imagine. So Laura wrote down her email. After Laura had finished writing down her email I left with a big smile with a promise to send her the first draft of the story. I felt so light and happy after I got the story from Laura like a marathon winner.