My Other Passion (besides food) - Mehendi

I absolutely love to paint my hands and feet with Heena/Mehendi... Back in India, there were so many places and people that we knew to get our hands painted for festivals, weddings, summer celebrations, and just for fun... You can learn more about it here...

The best mehendi that I ever got done in my life (so far) was on my wedding day.. it took six hours to paint my hands and I left it on for almost 2 days (without washing my hands) - yes, I did felt very dirty at the time but since it was my wedding I was getting a treatment of that of a Princess :). Here is the snap shot of my mehendi on wedding (sorry I am having hard time making these pics bigger - will upload once I figure it out)..

Once we came to States, it was such a disaster when it came to getting mehendi done on eid and at weddings. First, I was not good at it; and second, there wasn't that many people or places over here who would know how to do it. There were 5 eids that I celebrated without any mehendi on my hands... It was the saddest (is that even a word?!?!) part of coming to US. One day I decided when so many young girls like me know how to do it then why shouldn't I??? I tell you, it was a big challenge for me and it still is. Getting mehendi done on my hand is harder that passing the CPA (CA) exam.. You have to be very patience and very detailed... after all it will stay on your hand for atleast two weeks... I have gotten much better in past 5 years or so but then again, I don't practice it that often (as I should)... This past weekend, I didn't had much to do so I painted back of my left hand and then next day we drove to NJ to see my older brother FKhan and sis in law so did the palm of my left hand in the car... it was exciting and much fun.. Here are some clicks of my work...

Do tell me what are your other passions besides cooking and do you like getting heena done on your hands???