Back with Stephane Guillerme and and another story from India.For any tattooed person traveling a little outside its borders, the question comes one day to ask … or not.For me, I've tried just about everything. Besides my few "Made in France" machine and hand-poke tattoos, I had some experiences beyond my national borders. Tattoo in Guatemala in 1989 by a former Guatemalan merchant sailor tattooing with a basic 1-needle machine. Hygiene and quality of workmanship... forget about it!! In Los Angeles - Venice beach in 1993 by an Argentinian working in a tattoo parlour with the 2C standard: Cool & Clean. Then in Antigua, the former capital of Guatemala, in 1996, in a parlour also 2C held by a South Korean guy. Then three tattoos in India. Two with rather good if not very good hygiene criteria. And a Baiga tribal hand-poke tattoo in the dust of a remote Madhya Pradesh countryside. For a few days I thought they were going to have to amputate my left foot (read the two articles on the Baiga subject, in English on the Tattoo Life website and in French on the webzine Jeter l'Encre magazine). But as often in terms of health, I dodged the big drops of fate. Yes, getting a tattoo or not while traveling is a question that must be asked. Many have not asked themselves this question, including myself. For the greatest number everything went well and we can only be grateful about it. For others everything went in a more … huuummmm … rock'n'roll way.
To bring some food for thought, I will call on two people I met during my Indian adventures: from Germany Heiko Gantenberg, a tattoo artist who had done an incredible world tour on a motorcycle and whom I came across in Delhi at the end of 2014, a few weeks before having met the Frenchman Sylvain, a seeker of plenitude and truth, incidentally interested in tattooing.
I encountered Sylvain in Orchha (Madhya Pradesh), at the end of 2014, when I was going to this charming village to attend the Ram Raja mela, a big religious fair bringing together for a few days thousands of pilgrims, hundreds of itinerant traders and a big handful of street tattoo artists. I found myself a hotel slightly outside this little town. Only one other person was housed there, Sylvain "Shivam", "Shivam" being the name given to him by his guru. We immediately discussed tattooing, I had already been interested in the Indian subject for 6 years. I explained to Sylvain that I was coming to meet the street tattoo artists that this festival was supposed to attract. And occasionally whispered in his ear that I would advise anyone with a non-native immune system (and still…) not to face these dirty hands without gloves, these needles and these inks lying around in the dust of the roadsides and streets, and being shared without any hesitation. The next day I was early onto the deck, in the vapors of a morning that promised to be hot. I walked towards the central square, in the center of a triangle of admirable monuments: the temple of Ram Raja, the Chaturbhuj temple and the Jahangir palace haunted by spirits of the past and whose air guardians are enormous vultures (although they are becoming increasingly rare). Early in the morning, the old street tattoo artists were already displaying a few old flashes, often well worn, at their feet. The young tattoo artists will arrive a little later but will stay up in the restless night much longer than some old ones, including the 83-year-old Ayodhya Prasad. I wrote about him in my book "India under the skin". Street tattoo artists, I saw a dozen, fifteen of them throughout the festival and its adjacent streets. Some, to financially optimize the trip, also engraved brass rings with the initials of young lovers.
In the evening, back at the hotel, I ran into Sylvain. The most calmly in the world he moved forward his right hand towards my incredulous gaze to show me his latest inspiration: a "pure Indian style" AUM that he just got inked in the street because in the ashram where Sylvain had his habits all monks and swamis had it tattooed when they renounced the world. However, no god in India was going to prevent him from going through hell. Of these 10 rupees spent, he got his money’s worth. Now I give the floor to him so that you know a little more about his formidable odyssey.
« It was a special moment, the Ram Raja mela, the big religious festival where thousands of pilgrims come to celebrate the wedding of the god Rama and the goddess Sita. For some time I had been spending part of my days in the company of a well-known sadhu (a renunciant) in Orchha. He had taken a vow of silence. His very calm and benevolent personality had moved me, as well as the light of his gaze. He reminded me a lot of my Guru Chandra Swami Udasin who kept silence for 33 years. On the evening of the Ram Raja festival, in his company, I too felt the call of Silence, and therefore began that day not to speak any more. That happened the day when we met at the hotel. Passing by the tattoo artists in the mela, without really thinking, I hold out my hand to a young apprentice, the Indians were queuing, chain tattooing...same needle, same ink for everyone, I didn't even get any antiseptic turmeric powder. In short, this moment was inked on my hand for the rest of my life. The next day I started having a fever, my immune system did not like this bacteriological vaccine from deep India. After a few feverish and shaken days in Orchha I left for Khajuraho. Arriving there I spent a difficult night. Honestly I have been sick in India many times but this time I felt my body was seriously struggling to survive. After a very long night, in the morning the hotel manager, given my condition, took me directly to the hospital on his motorbike. Exhausted, I fell off the bike halfway. When I got to the hospital I was tested. They found nothing special and it was not until much later, through further examinations in France, that I was told that I had probably been infected with the viruses of hepatitis A, B, as well as by amoebas. Because of the tattoo or not, I don't know. I do not regret this experience of about 15 days because for me it marks an important moment in my life, the moment when I decided to give up the material world, the world of consumption and the search for futile pleasures that obscure the very essence of life and of the values of the human soul. For me, it was the beginning of a deep inner search. »
It's up to everyone to estimate the price they're willing to pay for the thrill of tattooing, but in these kind of conditions, thinking twice is highly advised. Another person, another interesting story for our topic of the day. Heiko Gantenberg. Unlike Sylvain's story, I have often assumed that if the level of hygiene of a salon in Paris, London, Delhi, Tokyo, New York etc. seemed perfect, getting a tattoo there represented no problem. But I remember a discussion about it with Heiko Gantenberg, a tattoo artist from Marl (Germany) who has been around the world on a motorcycle during two and half years, taking boats a couple of times, he and "The White Elephant" , his mount, his Honda Africa twin 750 cc. During his world tour he observed the world of tattooing and tattooed whenever possible. His apprehension of the subject is rich in many ways, through many experiences, so the best thing now is that I let him speak.
« From my experience watching various ways of tattooing pretty much all over the world, it is quite amazing how many different ways of placing pigments permanently into skin are practiced in countless cultures. Most of them have a long, some of them thousands of years unbroken tradition. Feeding from that knowledge, most indigenous ways of tattooing are well developed. Even if they might seem more rural, then what the typical western mind is used to, most of them don’t lack any credibility in the way of application, when compared to modern day tattooing. Mostly the community served by artists with indigenous backgrounds, is part of its cultural heritage and environment. They are used to any circumstance coming along with the act of tattooing provided to them by their local artist. There are hardly any harsh health consequences occurring in this constellation. This still don’t mean that just anybody, travelling through as a visitor is qualified to receive a tattoo in an environment like that. There are many aspects, not just hygienic issues of the actual process of tattooing. Especially in warmer climate zones you will be opposed by various bacteria in, water, food, and everyday life, that are harmless to people calling these regions home. Always take in consideration that you can’t be resistive to these challenges, thrown at your immune systems in tropical environments. Getting tattooed there will always contain an incalculable risk to your health, provided by natures circumstances, not the process of tattooing. I attended the first convention in Samoa, organized by Paulo Suluape. Almost every westerner getting tattooed there traditionally, suffered sickness. Every time the Samoans attended the Berlin Convention, held by Frank Weber in December, the very cold wintertime, all the Samoans that attended were suffering sickness with cold symptoms within days after getting there. This explains the whole problem. Whenever you move to an environment your immune system is a stranger to, don’t expect to walk away healthy, putting yourself at risk. If you can get the opportunity to receive your desired tattoo with indigenous background, by an original artist that is traveling in your region, you should smartly take it. Your chances for a fully satisfying experience will be much higher. »
Not much to add to Heiko's words, but anyway, my ultimate advice is that, if you really want to go for a tattoo while traveling, it's better to do it at the very end of your trip.
