Written for Student Digest April-July 2012 Issue.
Tattoo is a design on the skin, achieved by changing
pigments of skin. The process is done by repeatedly pricking ink into the skin
using sharp needle. And because it is
done inside the dermis layer of
the skin it can’t be
erased unless done surgically. The technology of removing tattoo hasn’t yet been
introduced in Bhutan and therefore to have a tattoo removed could cost
fortunes.
Why am I talking about removing tattoo, when
everybody does it for keeping? Well I have learnt from experience that at one
point in life you would die to get them removed. You would look at it each day
and wish if you had never done it. I know you won’t believe me today, because I
didn’t believe them then.
I was just like anyone of you, if not naughtier. I
was full of energy, energy waiting to explode and there were always choices
ahead of me. I made many wrong ones amidst my youthful excitements. And you
could land up doing your share of wrongs too, which as you grow up and as you
realize, time will forget and forgive. But there are certain wrongs that would
last beyond our realization, beyond our righteousness and beyond our
repentance.
One such wrong is getting into drugs. It’s addictive
and destructive. It gives you an illusion of happiness and stops you from
growing. It clouds your judgment and forces you to multiply your wrongs beyond
your intentions. Every morning you wake to find that one more person has left
your life, and yet you keep moving away from your family and friends. If you
are lucky to receive a timely help you may be able to jailbreak but I have seen
how the ghost of the past visits your happy home in future. Just when you finally
overcome the addiction and decide to settle down, have family and play with
your kids then you realize you aren’t left with much life. You had already
damaged so many vital organs in your body to live a normal life. Then you feel
the unforgiving grip of your youthful wrong holding you back.
While drugs problem is talked about enough there is
a subject equally important that didn’t receive much attention. The aggressive
love for tattoo is another youthful folly, which literally last forever. At one
time you don’t find anything wrong with tattoo because you see so many
celebrities showing off their designs, you see all your friends having them and
because you probably think you will never grow up. But you have to grow up and
you have to know that those celebrities have millions of dollars and that your
friends are wrong too.
Technologies with which celebrities create their
tattoos are medically safe and the tattoo makers are professionals, they know
what they are doing. Do we have professionals? What type of tools are we using?
Last year a student of mine tried a tattoo on his neck and landed up infecting
some nerves inside. He couldn’t move his neck and had hard time talking; it
took over a month of treatment to regain his speech. He was lucky that it was
just a normal infection and not tetanus. There are other infections associated
with careless pricking that could ruin your life.
Surviving the infection is just the first stage;
living with tattoo is another challenge. My tattoos didn’t give me infection
because I sterilized the needles I used but tattoo itself is an infection, more
so when you are someone responsible in society. People associate tattoo with
drug addicts and gang members but I am a teacher and I don’t like to be assumed
that way. How could I change that way people think?
When you are young you don’t care a thing about the
world. Tattooing your body is just another mischief you try among hundred
others. To gain little extra attention you tattoo strange designs and
shamelessly find it cool. I have seen arms and legs filled with vulgar words,
phrases and signs displayed openly in public. But someday you are bound to
change, and you can’t read your future. Look at me; I never thought I would
hold this respectable position in the society. All my youthful follies are
forgotten with time except these tattoos on my arms but I am very grateful to
myself for not having filthy and disrespectful symbols and words.
Your future is waiting for you with greater
opportunities and you could be someone everybody looks up to. And from where
you are then you can’t afford to show your tattoo and escape wrong assumptions.
Future can’t lie in the tattooed arms. Even if you choose to lead a quiet life
you have to become a parent someday and when your little child points at the
sign of middle finger on your arms and ask you questions, how would you explain
the vulgarity of your designs? Therefore, if you don’t yet have a tattoo, don’t
bother about having one. You don’t have to keep a permanent record of your
temporary mischief.
