11 June,2009 09:29 AM IST | | Subroto Roy
Tattooing and piercing of genitals has grown in the city by 100 per cent in the last 10 years
Pune's voyeuristic tendencies are slowly but surely coming out into the open. And this is reflected in the sheer rise in number of Puneites who are opting for tattoos and piercings on private areas.
Saurabh Pardeshi, owner of the popular Sabby's tattoo studio in Koregaon Park, said tattooing and piercing of genitals has grown 100 per cent in the last 10 years. "Ninety per cent of my customers who pierce their genitals and have tattoos around them are women," he said.
Yang Yao Shin, whose tattoo parlour is located in Fatima Nagar, recently made three tattoos on the genitals of his Indian customers.
"People with receding penises cannot get tattoos done on the penis, but those with slightly harder ones can do it," Yang said, showing ancient archival material maintained in a tattoo museum in Amsterdam. Pardeshi, meanwhile, shared pictures of Indians who have opted for what he terms as "back job" and a "boob job".
"Women get a tattoo near the vagina, and pierce a ring on the lips of their vagina or on their breasts," he said.
Pardeshi said Indians have still not taken to genital tattoos. "But I have done several piercing on genitals. The furthest Indians will go for is a complete back tattoo," he added. Yang (50) said he would hardly get a customer a week when he started his tattoo studio nine years back, but today he does around 90 a month.
"Now people from Dubai, Ireland, Canada, USA and Australia come to get tattoos done from me," Yang said.
While Pardeshi charges Rs 1,500 for a square inch of tattoo, the price of a full body tattoo depends on the design and the surface area of the body," he said. Yang charges Rs 2,000 for 2.5 square inches of tattoo.
