The tattoo artist who isn't numb from pain

Banks refused to sanction a loan because he has dreadlocks. Resistance and a money scam later, celebrity tattoo artist Al Alva opens his second outlet, now offering you a bite while you get inkedu00a0

It must take one helluva relentless streak to continue pursuing your passion, if a flood, fire and money scam can't make you quit. At 27, Al Alva runs two tattoo parlours, a clothes store and hair salon that have come together with a single-minded vision, despite pots of bad luck.

His latest Carter Road outlet, Al's Tattoo & Cappuccino, that's set to dish out everything from body art to food and beverages, sports framed newspaper articles of celebrities he has tattooed the same clippings that helped refresh his reputation with the bank lords.

But, Al seems more interested in the layman, now, as he lounges on a a wooden bench, asking himself, "How much does a call centre employee make?". He begins to split up a monthly salary into various expenditures. "He will have merely a grand or two left, which he may not want to spend on a tattoo, though that's something he has imagined forever," Al thinks aloud.

And so, Al designs tattoos at discounted prices for those with a heartfelt story and little moolah. Hindi film producer Bunty Walia's spot boy came in the other day, dying to get a tattoo. Al asked him how much he could spare, and somehow managed to fit it in that budget.

The hefty rent at the buzzing Carter Road stretch is a concern since his father, and partner in this venture, enjoys a cut from monthly profits. But Al knows he can recover in time. Running a tattoo salon on the buzzing tract frequented by "likeminded people", has been on his mind for some time; even after somebody sold him another plot on that same stretch on counterfeit stamp papers, and ran away with all the cash, just a year ago.

He took time off in Thailand, where he set up a salon, and returned with a new plan. That would have been the third time, Al lost everything and had to start over u2014 his first store in Goa was engulfed in fire, and the Lokhandwala branch that he set up after he moved back to Mumbai, was ruined in the 26/7 floods. "The seven year-old Hill Road outlet remains as is, but the Carter branch will see more traffic after 8 pm; that's after the Hill Road branch shuts for the day," says Al. Bamboo inking and the Disappearing Tattoo techniques are going to be part of the new range at the Carter branch, with custom tattoos as his focus.