H is for Henna.

I made this one last night, as a break from writing. I realized that H could just as easily stand for Hand as for Henna.

I first got mendhi during my time in Morocco in 2002…

…and now get it for my birthday, whenever I can spare the time. Because it means you have to daub your hands with sticky rosewater and then wrap them in gauze and cover them in gloves and leave it all on, warm and moist, for as long as you can possibly stand, which for me is a minimum of six hours, and you can’t do anything with your hands in the meantime. It’s a kind of movement fast.

This is me getting birthday henna in 2007 at Chandni’s. I think I know what imma do in 2013…