Suhail Rather
Bandipora, June 24: Nargis Nabi, a 25-year-old girlhailing from a small village- Kaloosa of Bandipora district is one of the youngest female Mehandi artists in the district who has turned her passion into profession.
At 25, Nargis Nabi, has already become quite a name for her beautiful henna art and patterns. In virtual world, they know her as @mehandibyrehnuma and hail her as ‘the first female organic henna artist from Kashmir’s Bandipora’.
Nargis said like any other girls she had a passion of applying mehndi on her own hands and other friends on special occasions like marriages and Eid. She said she was seen as an expert in her locality for making attractive designs of mehndi on arms.
“ My friends and relatives would call me on special occasions to apply mehndi to them,” she said, adding that it was there it came to her mind to turn the passion into a profession.
Though she has done graduation and many other courses, she choose Mehndi as her profession as her friend suggested her to take up this art as a profession after she noticed this talent in her.
For Kashmiri brides, the Mehandiraat or Maenziraat, night before wedding day, is one of the most important functions when the bride patiently watches her hands and feet being adorned with trending Mehandi designs.
Once the wedding date gets fixed, the hunt for a good henna artist begins as no bride would compromise on the designs for her special day.
During the wedding season which usually falls between the months of April and October; it is one of the difficult tasks to book a perfect henna artist. The booking is done months before.
Finding a good female henna artist was a challenge a few years back but with the passage of time we can see more females are excelling as henna artists and currently there are hundreds of them offering their services in Kashmir.
These artists have taken the designs to the next level by experimenting with latest motifs giving attractive choices to brides.
Sharing her journey as a Mehandi artist, Nargis said that she is running a page on Instagram from where she gets bookings and also shares her work on the page. “I am not working in any shop, but from my home as I get bookings through my page. And then I got to the bride’s home, Currently I am working in my district only.”
She said that Mehndi is something that fascinates everyone and every woman dreams to have the best mehndi memories on her wedding day. “So as I always try to serve my clients with the best and satisfying service. My family is my biggest support in this journey, as they have always respected, understood, trusted and guided me,” she said.
The young artist said that she offers her services at affordable prices, as she believes everyone should be able to get these services and make good memories on her wedding day.
Nargis added that she does all occasional mehndi which includes functional mehndi, festival mehndi, bridal and non-bridal mehndi.
