No Pakistani wedding is ever complete without the Mehendi. Whichever part of the country the bride may be from, her hands are adorned with the lovely red hue of the mehendi (mehndi).

Beauty parlors have special bridal mehendi packs - these days, the brides have a choice between the Pakistani mehendi (which covers pretty much most of the palm) and the Arabic mehendi (in which the pattern is drawn to one side of the hand). The cost of applying the mehendi may vary from parlor to parlor.

Mehendi (Mehndi) is associated to lots of things - a good dark design is a sign of good luck for the marital couple. It is common for the names of the bride and groom to be hidden in the mehndi design; and the wedding night cannot commence until the groom has found the names. Some examples of popular traditional images used in mehndi designs are the peacock, which is the national bird if India, the lotus flower, and an elephant with a raised trunk, which is a symbol of good luck.

From adorning brides’ hands, to being used to make hip tattoos on arms and bellies, Mehendi / Mehndi or Henna has gone international. Once a typically Pakistani custom and an indispensable part of a brides makeup, Mehendi has gone cosmopolitan thanks to the attention it gets through stars like Madonna, No Doubt and Bjork.

After having reached at the peak of his career a man felt an urge to repay*
*back to his mother for all that she had done for him.*
*So he asked her, “Mother, what can I give you? What can I do for you?
I*
*sincerely want to repay you for all the sacrifices you have made for
me*
*and for all the love you have showered upon me.”*
*Mother looked surprised and said, “Why do you think about it. It was
my*
*duty so I did it, you don’t have to repay me. Even if you want to,
there*
*is no way a man can ever repay his mother.”*
*Despite her continuous refusal to ask for anything, he continued to*
*Persist. To put an end to the discussion, she said, “All right. If
you*
*must, then tonight you sleep on my bed, with me, just as you used to
when*
*you were a baby.” He said, “That’s a strange thing to ask for, but if
it* *pleases
you, I will.”*
*As soon as he fell asleep, the mother got up and brought a bucket of*
*water. She poured a mug full of water on his side. Feeling disturbed
by* *the
wetness under him, in his sleep he moved away to the other side of the*
*bed.
As he settled down, his mother poured another mug of water on the other
side. In his slumber he tried to find space towards the foot post of*
*the
bed. Sometime later he woke up feeling that this part of the bed too*
*was
damp. *
*He got up and saw his mother, with the mug in her hand. He asked*
*angrily, “What are you doing mother? Why don’t you let me sleep? How
do* *you
expect me to sleep on a wet bed?”*
*Mother said, “I slept with you, when you wetted the bed in the night.
I*
*changed your nappy (diaper made of cotton cloth, used in India ) and
moved*
*you to the dry part of the bed, while I slept on the wet side. *
*You wanted* *to repay me. Can you sleep here even for one night with
me on
a damp bed?*
*If you can, I’ll take it that you have repaid me.”*
*Dear children, How true it is that of all the debts in the world, the
one*
*that can never be repaid is the one you owe to your mother. *
*You can never* *repay the love, care and time your mother gave to
bring you
up. You are a* *part of her flesh and blood; don’t forget this, because
she
never ever* *forgets it.*
*I know you are missing your mother at this very moment….*
**
*There is nothing as beautiful as our mother in this world.*