Aaliya Emran, a 23-year-old girl hailing from Bemina, Srinagar is one of the youngest female Mehandi artists in the city, who has turned her passion into a profession. However, given her compassionate personality, the lady is winning hearts and putting smiles on the orphan brides by dying their hands-free.
Aaliya said like any other girl she had a passion for applying Mehndi on her own hands and with other friends on special occasions like marriages and Eid. She said, with time her expertise grew and many in her locality preferred her over any other professional artist around the area.
“My friends and relatives would call me on special occasions to apply Mehndi,”, adding that it was then and there, that it came to her mind to turn the passion into a profession.
A graduate with other courses as well, Aliya chose Mehndi as her profession after her friends also supported and suggested she take it up.
For Kashmiri brides, the Mehandiraat or Maenziraat, the night before the 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 April and October; it is one 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 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 the latest motifs giving attractive choices to brides.
Sharing her journey as a Mehandi artist, Aaliya 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.
Moreover, to make the special occasion memorable for orphans and less fortunate brides, Aliya takes the stride forward as a good human being by offering her services free.
“It brings peace to my heart and makes me happy to help them make there special occasions more memorable.”
Aaliya added that she does all occasional mehndi which includes functional mehndi, fesand tival mehndi, and bridal and non-bridal mehndi.(KNS)