JOIN USIt’s no surprise that pets have a huge influence on one’s lives. They quietly walk into your lives and form a bond that lasts a lifetime. Pet parents in the City have been going above and beyond their way to show their love by getting tattoos of their pets on themselves. From simple line drawings and names to portraits, nothing is holding them back in professing their love.
Pranav got a tattoo of his dog ‘Scooby’ sometime back. He shares, “Scooby has been with me ever since I was a two-year-old. She was with me for 17 years and she was a very integral part of my life before she passed away. She sculpted the most impressionable years of my life. I couldn’t find a better way to have her around me all the time, so I got a tattoo of her name done.”
Mayank and Apoorva, a couple, got an infinity symbol with love and paw completing the circle.
“We got ourselves the tattoo of our dog, Misty, as she is very special to us. We are thankful that she is part of our lives and is always there when we need her. We believe that the three of us are a happy family and the tattoo symbolises just that,” they explain. Sheena and Kiran also got themselves inked for their fur baby. They say, “Peppa was our little baby; our world revolved around this precious bundle of joy. Her demise came to us as an unexpected shock; she put up a fierce fight for five long days, but finally passed away due to Leptospirosis (organ failure). We found ourselves struggling with not seeing her anymore. Every little thing around the house kept reminding us of her. So one day we decided to get a tattoo in memory of her. It will be our way of memorialising her for the unconditional love she showed us and for the world of happiness she brought into our lives.”
Kiran wrote ‘Peppa my little girl’ on his forearm, while Sheena printed ‘I’ll never walk alone’ on her inner wrist.
“It really helped with the grieving process because it allowed Peppa to live on with us. And I think in a strange way it did help us move on, to accept it and to still know that we didn’t have to ever let her go from our hearts,” adds Sheena.
But for Dharini Dilip, it’s a different story altogether. With her equal love for both dogs and cats, she got a tattoo of a cat within a dog. While her dog, Spike, is no more, she wonders if her cat, Muse, and him would have gotten along. She explains, “I’ve always thought what it would be like if Spike (my dog) and Muse (my cat) ever met. Would they have been best friends, tolerated each other or just annoyed the living out of each other’s existence? My tattoo symbolises the closest answer that I will ever get. It also feels like I don’t get enough time with them. The years will seem like days. But in this way, I will always have them with me, together. It’s a great feeling of comfort and a constant reminder of their existence and of the time together.”
With this creative new trend taking over pet parents are also keeping the tattoo artists busy. Chirag, an artist from Skindeep, says, “On an average, we get about 10 to 12 tattoos designs a month. They are mostly generic ones like the pets paws or names, and even full portraits. Sometimes they also bring an old toy and ask us to replicate it into a tattoo. It’s great to tattoo one of these for the people because it’s very personal to them and they can wake up the next day feeling good about getting it done. I’m just glad that I could have been part of their journey.”