The majority of Indians have always been conservative when it comes to choosing professions. They only go for a handful of careers and hardly believe in walking on a different path. Sometimes parents also force their kids to take the career of their choice. If parents are in support of passion then society turns the individual down.
Tejasvi Prabhulkar is among those rare girls who can go to any length to make their dreams come true. At a young age, she decided to become a tattoo artist. The profession was unknown to her family so they didn’t support her. Despite the objections and obstacles, she stayed adamant and created the Limca Book record in the field.
Among this chaos, walking on a different path, choosing a rare career that is unknown to many others is quite challenging especially for females. They are always told to get into normal things that wouldn’t burden their married life. Nonetheless, there are strong females present in our society who don’t care about such judgment. They walk on unknown paths and work hard to achieve their desires. Let us hear her story.
Tejasvi Prabhulkar – My Story
I’m Tejasvi Prabhulkar. I was born and brought up in Mumbai. Currently, I’m working as a tattoo artist. My attraction to tattoos and art has a link with my childhood. Since my childhood, I have loved drawing. I used to draw a lot behind my notebooks and on drawing papers. It was my favorite pastime. When I was 17 years old I learned how to tattoo. At that time, I didn’t have any idea that one day I’ll choose it as my profession. I did it casually.
During those days, I got my first tattoo on my body. The artist wrote my name Tejasvi. I told him to do it because everyone used to pronounce my name incorrectly. Sometimes they would call me Tejasvini or Tejashree and once a teacher called me Jogeshwari. So this was the thought behind my decision.
Getting my first tattoo was a different experience. I truly loved it. Because it is a one-time investment and you can ink your memories, inspirations, or your loved ones on your body. You will never forget them. It will last forever. They say nothing lasts forever but tattoos do. They stay with you throughout the journey. They never fade, never leave until you remove them. I adore this fact about tattoos. So the thought of getting a tattoo came from this incident.
However, choosing it as my career was extremely challenging because I was a bright student and they wanted me to go into other fields. Once, I told my parents that I wish to join the merchant navy. They didn’t approve my decision due to financial issues. Then I decided to be a software engineer. So after finishing high school, I studied IT for a while but a few months later I realized that I cannot continue it.
I told my parents about my passion for tattoos but they didn’t like the idea as they thought that I will be one of those ladies on Juhu beach who draw tattoos. They said ‘We don’t think you will earn enough as a tattoo artist. Also, it is not a respectable job.’ I showed them Kat Von D’s video and we had a long discussion about the industry and how can I establish myself in it.
After the whole conversation, they said ‘Fine, you can do it but you should complete your graduation first.’ I agreed with their demand and I enrolled for BMM. I was learning tattoo art side by side. In the last year of graduation, I felt that I couldn’t do any other job. I want to be a businesswoman so I called it off. Then I started doing tattooing and wall painting full time.
Although the journey was tough because when I left my college everyone started taunting me. My family, friends, neighbors, and relatives used to say the same thing which was ‘You have not completed your graduation. Your life and future are in danger. You are 20 years old and you have 25 tattoos on your body. Who will marry you? We suggest you leave the country and shift abroad because Indians will never accept you.’ Their comments did hurt me but I never let that humiliation bother me.
To shut them up, I decided to create a world record but no one favored my idea except my 2 best friends. Though I’m a stubborn girl so despite the objection I went ahead with the plan. I was prepared to face everything as I knew that taunts and mean remarks were going to be there. There was one thing in my mind that was once I create the record everyone will back me up. So it was a tough call but I received it. Though I had a backup plan of shifting to the US or UK if I failed in creating the record.
While researching, I came across Kat Von D’s (tattoo artist) Guinness Book record which she held for inking the maximum number of people in 24 hours without resting for a minute. I thought about it but doing free tattoos wasn’t my goal so I dropped the idea.
Then I saw a lady who was tattooed 97% on her body. According to Guinness’s book of the world record, she was the most tattooed woman in the world. I wasn’t comfortable with covering my body so I started searching on country level.
Then I got to know about the Limca Book of records. I mailed them to tell them that I wanted to be the most tattooed woman in India. Is it possible for me to hold the record if I have 100 tattoos on my body? They agreed but told me to finish it in one month.
I already had 25 tattoos so I needed 75 more to create the record. I began to search for an artist. It was a difficult job because I only had a month to ink 75 tattoos. No artist would give me that much time. Later, I found one artist in Panvel. His studio was 1.5 hours away from my place because I lived in Dadar.
Choosing him means traveling 1.5 hours a day after getting 3 to 4 tattoos. However, the obstacle didn’t stop me and I chose him for the work. I used to travel 3 hours per day to ink 4 to 7 tattoos in a day to finish the target in a month.
My parents thought I had gone mad because I used to come home limping, sometimes I’d feel sick, sometimes my body burnt like it was on fire. They tried to convince me against the idea but I was too stubborn to pay any attention. After a while, they gave up on me and saw it happening silently.
Things turned drastic when the tattoo artist started harassing me mentally. Now, it was my breaking point. After the incident, I wanted to give up but my friends asked me to continue. They said ‘You have finished half the journey. You have crossed 50 tattoos and only 50 more to go. Don’t give up girl, continue, for the sake of your dreams.’
Their kind words did encourage me and I continued following the same routine. On my parent’s anniversary, I got their picture inked on my body. I did it to showcase my love for them. After seeing the portraits they came to my support and it worked as fuel in the fire. I finally got the courage to finish the journey.
3 months later, they announced my victory and I became ‘Most Tattooed Woman in India.’ News and media covered my story and their articles and interviews went viral. People stood in my support. Trust me, they were the same people who had always ignored me and they were saying that they are related to me. Such a great spin!
After coming into the limelight, I began to receive enough work and modeling assignments. I have done bold semi and nude shoots as a tattoo model. People slammed me with comments like ‘You are doing these shoots. Who will marry you? Any man won’t be comfortable with your work. How will I deal with it?’ So I was ready to live my life alone but I did meet someone who proved society wrong.
He loved me the way I was with tattoos all around my body. He was comfortable with my shoots but ensured my safety by being around. We married each other but after one month of marriage, I lost him in a car accident. It was the worst phase of my life and the greatest loss. He was too precious to lose but destiny didn’t let us stay together.
I attempted to end my life but couldn’t because his voice in my head kept telling me to continue. It said ‘You’ve come this far on your own. So don’t give up now.’ That’s why I couldn’t kill myself otherwise I would have. As a memory, I tattooed his name on my wrist so I can have him forever with me.
Other than this, I have 107 tattoos and all of them are related to my life somewhere. For eg. I have my parents’ picture on my right hand, my character sketch on my left hand, and my ex-husband’s name on my wrist. I have HOPE written on my four fingers and an alien falling from space saying ‘You are not from this world.’
I did it because people often told me You don’t belong to India. You have so many tattoos. You look like a foreigner.’ So every tattoo has a meaning or memory behind it.
Basically, I inked my life on my body in the form of tattoos.
These tattoos have made me physically and mentally strong. They have given me the courage to make strong and permanent decisions and to live my life without caring about society’s opinion. I don’t care what people say about my body and how they stare at me. I don’t let their strange stares bother me or affect my life. I live freely and independently. I’m working as a successful tattoo artist and I aim to open my studio branches all over the country.
From my life experiences, I would like to teach you one important lesson that is ‘Not everyone will support you but you should believe in yourself. You will find your way no matter when and how you start. What is meant for you will find a way to reach you. So don’t give up on your dreams.’
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