Mehandi catches on with Americans

While mehandi is considered auspicious during marriage in our society, it's a fashion in US, writes Lalit K Jha.

Exactly a week ago — last Saturday on June 11 — I had an opportunity to visit the Grand Cities Art Fest on the banks of the Red River in Grand Forks, North Dakota. One of the largest cities of North Dakota in the United States, Grand Forks is near to several Indian reservations, the region earmarked for the native Indian-American tribes.

One of the reasons for going there, at the insistence of one of my friend, was the desire to see if there were any stalls set up by any of the native Indian American tribes.

Besides having a glimpse of the talent and variety of the artists here, two things attracted me the most at this highly popular annual Arts Fest. One the few similarities, even though a bit distant one, I could find between the exhibits and music of the tribals here to many a thing back home.

Second was the queue outside two stalls, wherein young and old Americans were "eager" to carve out various designs of mehandi in various parts of their body.

Naturally, the most significant part of the Arts Fest for me was the similarity I could find at the only tribal stall in one corner of the Fest venue — located at the banks of Red River — with those traditional toys and musical instruments still found in rural areas of India in particular the tribal regions of Jharkhand, where I had the privilege to reside for several years.