It’s that time of the year again for weddings and the fun of wedding shopping. Every year a new trend in wedding emerges and every year a bride or a groom introduces something different in their styles and attire. The ‘mehndi night’ has turned out to be a trend for many brides, irrespective of religion or caste.
Putting mehndi or the mehndi night was once associated only with Muslims. It was a grand affair, with the bride decked in jewels and traditional attire sits amongst her close relatives and friends with mehndi in both hands up till the elbow and feet, enjoying her last few minutes of being single with a shy smile while enjoying the oppana. A mehndi night is also a tradition of the upper caste Hindus.
The Varmas and Nairs towards the south side of Kerala has an all women’s evening with the aunts, the grandmothers and friends singing ‘sita kalyanam’ and entertaining the bride with a kaikotti kali while each women present in the function take turns to decorate the bride’s palms. Well, things have changed for the brides this season.
“A mehndi night was once the elaborate traditional function for north Indians and for Muslims and Varmas of Kerala. Things have changed with Hindus belonging to all the castes and even Christians following this ‘tradition’,” says Divya Prajun, an expert in the field of mehndi designing. She has been putting mehndi for brides for over 22 years. “The designs keep changing with time. Arabic designs was a trend two years ago. Brides have come back to the traditional design this year,” explains Divya.
Shobhana Raveendran, beautician, says, “Putting mehndi is a fashion for Hindu brides. They want their hands and feet to look pretty while decking it up with jewellery on the day before and on the day of the wedding. Not just the bride even the bride’s sisters and friends join in for decorating their hands.”
Archana Achindyaraj who had a mehndi night a day before the wedding eve says, “My grandmother was very particular about a mehndi night as it was part of her wedding celebrations many years ago when she was brought into the Zamorin family. It has been a part of the tradition since then”.
“My family was not very particular about putting mehndi. But since I love it, I had both my hands decorated on the eve of my wedding. I even got my friends to decorate their hands too. I guess I am a trend-setter in my family now,” says Uma Rakesh, a new bride.
The cost of putting mehndi has soared up in recent times due to the demand. Mehndi just for both the palms alone cost Rs 1,000 or above depending on the beauty parlour the bride has approached.
“We charge Rs 1,000 for just the hands. In some places it can go upto Rs 1,500 or above,” says Prameela, senior beautician at My Fair Lady beauty parlour. Decorating both the arms till shoulder and feet till knee can cost upto Rs 5, 000. The charges are different and more economic for independent beauticians and mehendi artists.