Surat (Gujarat) [India], June 3: The journey from 0 to 100 isn’t easy, it takes tolls of hard work, dedication, determination, and most importantly creativity and patience. Even after reaching 100, the journey isn’t over. A lot more has to be achieved, a lot more has to be changed and a lot more respect has to be gained. SonaMistry’s ancestral origin belongs to Rajasthan- a city of culture, tradition, and art. And this inclined her towards the art. Being from the Marwadi family, she always saw how every lady of the house got excited for Mehandi before every function and that persuaded her to try out some designs in grade 10th. Later, she continued her studies and started her graduation in software engineering but she never gave up on creating designs. In this process, she realised how fun it was to create new designs every day and to wait for the stain to get mature. She started putting Mehandi to her immediate family members and known ones. She got a lot of appreciation for her work and intricate details in the design which pushed her to leave software engineering and take up Mehandi as a profession.
In the initial days, she had to face a lot of criticism. A lot of people mocked her for not continuing with her studies but her family backed her and supported her. A lot of people didn’t look up to Mehandi artists as they look up to any other stakeholder from the wedding industry. However, she was very stubborn about how she wanted to change the mindset of people and make this a better place for all other upcoming artists. She continued working hard and creating new designs every day.
She started innovating new western figures and western designs, in order to let people know that a traditional Mehandi can also get a western and contemporary touch. In the year 2019 when she completed 5 years as Professional Mehandi Artist, she was awarded Best Creative Bridal Mehandi Artist Award and this was the time when 50% people’s mouth was shut and their perception about Mehandi artist changed. However, still, a lot of people don’t respect the Mehandi artist as they should respect. The stakeholders from the wedding industry itself, do not credit the Mehandi Artist while posting the picture of the bride on various social media platforms even after knowing how important is Mehandi for the wedding. So my fight is still not over, a lot more journey has to be lived.
“In my career of 7 years, hundreds of times I have been questioned of how do you create such creative designs. The process is quite simple- I understand my clients’ needs and what exactly they are looking for in the design. Accordingly, I create the design or the figure which expresses their story or emotions perfectly. Sometimes, the outcome is not like what we had actually imagined at the start. In this case, I try to create it again with some variations or mostly improve it by adding some elements.” says the celebrity Mehandi artist, SonaMistry.
She wishes to wake up every day and create different, unique, and creative designs every day and night. For her this is just the trailer, the entire film is left to be realised yet.
Divya Agarwal
