The Story of my Newest Tattoo
Well, the strike in kathmandu meant that shops were only allowed to be open between the hours of 6 and 8
shop owners who were open outside of those hours would often get their shops trashed and the shit kicked out of them if the Maoists found out
so i stop by tattoo shop i originally researched and was planning on getting the tattoo done at, but was told by the artist that he was canceling all of his appointments until the strike was over, so no, he would not tattoo me.
so i research a couple more at an internet cafe, look at a couple of portfolios and then say fuck it, and check out the first shop i can find. I am pretty sure the shop i went to was one that i had looked up, but i am not 100% sure- in any case i walk in, and a british chick is taking a break from a side tattoo she is getting
obviously he is still working
so i chat with the artist, chat with the chick (how is he? did he use new ink, sterile needles, yadda yadda yadda), look at his portfolio and leave my design with him and am told to come back in an hour
he started on my tattoo at around 7:30
as 8:00 approached you can hear the shops on the street closing up, slamming their metal gate-shutter things, and you can hear voices, sometimes yelling, all in nepali, quite close by
at about 8:05 the artist say "just hold on for a sec" leaves the shop, and I can hear him talking to someone near the entrance to the little side street the shop was on
he actually stopped my tattoo to go and talk to the maoists, to let them know that, yes, yes, he was *just* finishing up and would be heading *right* home as soon as he was done
so he comes back, i ask him if everything's cool, and he says it's all good and gets back to work
every time he paused he would turn his head towards the door as if listening for people
and i am thinking he is listening for the approaching mob, but i finally realised he was actually just looking at the paper stencil
heh
so we finish around 8:30 or so and the power in the street is off (rolling power outages) and i am trying to navigate my way through the dark (nearly empty) streets of kathmandu by myself. got lostish, but ended up somehow closer to the guest house than i thought
the Maoists were pissed because they wanted the prime minister to step down, and the strike was the biggest bargaining chip they had. when shop keepers broke the Banda (strike), they were undermining their efforts. so they reacted really harshly to keep everyone obedient
(Taken from an MSN conversation)
shop owners who were open outside of those hours would often get their shops trashed and the shit kicked out of them if the Maoists found out
so i stop by tattoo shop i originally researched and was planning on getting the tattoo done at, but was told by the artist that he was canceling all of his appointments until the strike was over, so no, he would not tattoo me.
so i research a couple more at an internet cafe, look at a couple of portfolios and then say fuck it, and check out the first shop i can find. I am pretty sure the shop i went to was one that i had looked up, but i am not 100% sure- in any case i walk in, and a british chick is taking a break from a side tattoo she is getting
obviously he is still working
so i chat with the artist, chat with the chick (how is he? did he use new ink, sterile needles, yadda yadda yadda), look at his portfolio and leave my design with him and am told to come back in an hour
he started on my tattoo at around 7:30
as 8:00 approached you can hear the shops on the street closing up, slamming their metal gate-shutter things, and you can hear voices, sometimes yelling, all in nepali, quite close by
at about 8:05 the artist say "just hold on for a sec" leaves the shop, and I can hear him talking to someone near the entrance to the little side street the shop was on
he actually stopped my tattoo to go and talk to the maoists, to let them know that, yes, yes, he was *just* finishing up and would be heading *right* home as soon as he was done
so he comes back, i ask him if everything's cool, and he says it's all good and gets back to work
every time he paused he would turn his head towards the door as if listening for people
and i am thinking he is listening for the approaching mob, but i finally realised he was actually just looking at the paper stencil
heh
so we finish around 8:30 or so and the power in the street is off (rolling power outages) and i am trying to navigate my way through the dark (nearly empty) streets of kathmandu by myself. got lostish, but ended up somehow closer to the guest house than i thought
the Maoists were pissed because they wanted the prime minister to step down, and the strike was the biggest bargaining chip they had. when shop keepers broke the Banda (strike), they were undermining their efforts. so they reacted really harshly to keep everyone obedient
(Taken from an MSN conversation)