Henna artist Sunil Kumar has applied henna to around 1,000 brides and celebrities.
By Sushmita Dey
As you enter the bustling Mint Street in Sowcarpet, Chennai, one man stands out—checked shirt, sitting straight, in a corner of the lane, cross-legged for the past one hour, as he smoothly draws a fine line on the customer’s palms, squeezing the tip of the henna cone and creating almost an intricate face of the bride.
“It’s been so many years that now it’s easy for me to sit in one place for more than four hours, but it’s harder for the customer or brides to sit down and get their mehendi done,” said Sunil Kumar one Tuesday morning.
The 38-year-old from Agra has been fighting against everyone for most of his adult life. Kumar came to Chennai from Agra in 1998. As a young boy of 12, he first noticed and became intrigued by henna patterns when witnessed someone drawing on her mother’s palms for Karvachauth.
Kumar’s journey as a henna artist specifically began as a part-time hobby in school, when he was reluctantly hired to colour the hands of the women in his residential colony. Slowly, the small gig grew into an undying passion that got him to leave his monthly salaried job at a factory in Agra and he started working right at 20.
“Whether you like traditional intricate designs or perhaps geometric shapes with contemporary styles, I’ve got numerous catalogues for everyone to choose their best mehendi design, courtesy our favourite— internet,” he said.
As Kumar seemed oblivious to his surroundings. The loud sound of extracting juice from sugarcane, students coming out of the school, the horns of auto going back and forth, vendors selling vegetables and fruits, two people fighting over a small mishap. He didn’t even look up to what was going on. It’s a task that involves focus, precision and patience to sit and apply henna on the hands gently, he shared.
For every customer, he showcases a slew of designs to make sure they have enough options to choose from. In the meantime, he also answers each and every question very patiently, when the customers ask him regarding how long the colour will last on the palms or perhaps how long will the design take.
Apart from this, he answers a list of other questions from passersby as well and knows the directions to each shop so well that it feels like there's a map in his head.
Kumar shared how being a man in this field, especially from a middle-class family in Uttar Pradesh, was all the more difficult for him, as he faced judgement and stereotypes throughout his journey. .
He came to Chennai with his three childhood friends, and the first thing he did after setting up the shop was to learn Tamil so he could understand the customers’ interests and what they really want.
Asked if he ever regrets the step he took 20 years ago, he stated, “This is the only thing I know, and especially, it’s the only thing I have thoroughly enjoyed in my life.”
In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, he even thought of leaving this profession when everyone at home forced him to come back to the village, where he had no source of livelihood.
“But it’s the passion of creating more that made me hold on to it,” he quipped.
“When I sit down—be it six hours or seven—I’m so focused; it calms me down. It feels like there’s no one around. It’s just me being so engrossed in it,” he added.
He also takes orders from all across India. What sets him apart from the other mehndi artists is that he creates his own mehendi mixture.
It was two in the afternoon, and most of the nearby shops had temporarily stopped work to have lunch, but Kumar didn’t even blink, focussed as he was on rendering with precision the bride and groom’s face on an outstretched palm.
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