The festive hue of henna

A young woman getting henna deigns on her palm (right)

Today, in Bangladesh, women apply henna on their palms, finger nails, wrists and hands. They also put it on the upper part of their feet. These take floral shapes and motifs with lines, dots and circles. After plucking the leaves, they combine it with tea leaves, coffee grains and sugar along with lemon juice so that the registered colour is a strong one. Henna is applied to women's hair as a routine basis to add lustre and to camouflage the gray hair. Grandmothers with orange flowing hair also look sophisticated. Along with music, dancing and feasting, applying of henna during our weddings is a complete ritual on its own. One school of thought has it that the darker the registration of the colour of henna, the greater are the expectations of happiness in the marriage.

At Bashundhara City, Panthopath, a five day-long Elite Ranga Eid Festival is being held. This has been attended by personalities like filmstars Purnima and Nadia, child actor Dighi and TV actress Romana. While trained young women apply henna from paper cones, actress Doel says that she has always looked forward to applying mehdi during Eid. The young women applying the henna are not educated at any art college, like the selection of women applying mehdi last year. but are artistically inclined. Model Tumpa says that henna suits her choice of attire like salwar - kameez and sari and it also adds a touch of the orient.