Story And The Meaning Behind My Tattoos

“Tattoos are the stories you put on your body to remind yourself of a certain mindset or part of your evolution”  – Ranveer Allahabadia

This blog is neither to encourage nor discourage you from getting a tattoo. It is to share the stories behind my tattoos.

I have six tattoos on my body, and each tattoo has a story behind it. 

Why did I decide to get a tattoo?

• I have seen my dad getting tattoos while growing up. He has 15 tattoos, and as a kid, even I wanted my ‌version of tattoos. 
• In my teenage years, I used to watch football and MMA fights. Many footballers and fighters have tattoos, and some of them say they got their strengths from these tattoos.

I was never good at sports, but I consider myself an intellectual athlete. I believe the mentality of a physical athlete and an intellectual athlete are the same. Both want to get one level higher. 

Dywane Johnson says that tattoos in Polynesian culture are ‌spiritual. They contain strength, motivation, and protection. That’s been my ideology behind my tattoos. 

Meaning Behind The Tattoos

I have learned to have a motivated mindset; self-talk is necessary. Some people look outwards for motivation. They watch movies and series to get motivated, while some look inwards. They meditate or write. 

If you have tattoos, then they are an important part of your inward world. People either ‌hate their tattoos with time or love them. I belong to the second category. My tattoo gives me strength, aids my spirituality, and helps me with positive self-talk.

Each tattoo reminds me of where I have come from and the struggles behind it. 

Tattoo 1

At age 19, I was struggling with alcoholism, had a bad break-up, and failed my exams for the first time. I had probably hit rock bottom. 

My mum found out that I had failed and she was scared as she knew how volatile I was. She came to me and said do whatever you want to do tomorrow.

I was numb and depressed. Something inside me told me I should get a tattoo, and I told my mom. 

I went and got my first tattoo, so it will always be special to me. It is the phoenix bird. The significance of this tattoo was to tell myself that this is rock bottom and everything from here is going to be upwards.

Since that day, fortunately, everything\’s been upward. The tattoo has given me strength in my low moments. 

Tattoo 2

My second tattoo was the flaming Aum. It was an impulsive decision.

My dad belongs to Arya Samaj where pooja happens often. Spirituality and the unknown nature of the sound of Aum are spoken about. 

The truth behind Aum is the more you read about it, the more mystical it becomes. 

In this culture, Aum is the representation of God. I have always believed in God and I wanted that element to stay constantly with me, on my body. 

That is the story behind my second tattoo. The burning Aum reminds me of my faith and positivity in life. 

Tattoo 3

In college, your first impression is the last. My image in my first year was of the guy who always parties and doesn’t study. That reputation stuck with me till the end of college. I also got into powerlifting and that all together gave an impression of a bad body. 

 I got an internship in a fitness company, where only 3 out of 300 students were selected. In colleges, if you want to lock an internship that you got from college, you have to ‌meet the placement officer. The placement officer of my college was strict. The other two kids had good academics. I was still getting there. I went inside the room and he asked me, didn’t you fail? What is your aggregate?

He said I am canceling your internship. You should focus on your studies. Eventually, I got the internship after speaking to the people of that company. 

I didn’t like the teachers projecting their insecurities on me. I had a tough time in engineering.

That night, I slept in sadness. I had a dream and I remember it vividly. 

I was in a field with a lot of pigeons. After a point, all the pigeons disappeared, and that made a pathway for me. At the end of the pathway, I saw a dove. Something in me told me to pick it up. As soon as I picked it up, it turned into lord Shiva. I wasn’t a spiritual kid back then. It was a weird dream for me. But I remember him telling me that things are going to be good, just have hopes. 

I thought about it a lot. I had done a lot of internships before, so I had enough money to get a tattoo. The tattoo was of Lord Shiva is on my back. For me, the tattoo contains a lot of peace.

It is a reminder to have hope and not get angry at life. 

Tattoo 4

After completing my engineering with first-class grades, I tried working in an engineering company. I tried a bunch of jobs. Eventually, I tried launching a fitness start-up, and for marketing, I started the BeerBiceps channel. BeerBiceps grew organically. I worked alone from August 2015 to June 2016. Rajas joined me around June or July 2016. I struggled alone for a very long time. 

People doubted me. There were moments when I doubted myself. A lot of hard work, personal battles, and tears had gone into the start of BeerBiceps. It was a stressful time. But this phrase made me think that if I can fight through this, I can fight anything.

I aimed to have 10000 subscribers. Having that number of subscribers in 2015 was a big deal. This was before the Jio revolution. 

At 10000 subscribers, I wanted to remind myself of the journey that I had been through. That is when I got the tattoo of the tiger with the crown.

Lions are all about pride while tigers work alone and fight alone. If you look closely, the tiger has scars. The scars are to remind me of my struggles. The crown is rough; it is to remind the ruggedness of that phase. 

Tattoo 5 

After working so hard, I used to think of two things distinctively. One was a life partner, and the second was my reinstated faith in God. I used to think of Lord Shiva’s dream a lot. I started reading the bible, and I used to watch a lot of UFC matches. A famous UFC fighter, Joe Jonas, had this Bible-verse tattooed – Philippians 4:13. It says that I can do all things through he who gives me strength. 

It means anything you do in life; the universe is doing it through you; it is not just you.

After working hard and achieving all that I had achieved, I had become a little arrogant. Latching on to spirituality at that time helped me to cope with my arrogance. 

Then, at that point in life, someone special came into my life. She brought positivity to my life. I felt I should symbolize that moment of being aware of my arrogance, anger, and my faith. I got a tattoo of Philippians 4:13.

These are my favorite quotes.

Tattoo 6

I feel the last tattoo is the last piece of the puzzle for me. I got this tattoo right before we signed the agreement for our Prabhadevi office. 

For people who don’t know about BeerBiceps, we started with YouTube; we grew organically, and we needed help with our management. That is where we started a media agency, Monk-Entertainment. After working from a garage for two years, and a lot of struggles, we had enough money to get to our office. We were at the expansion stage of our business. 

When I was going to sign that agreement, It had been a journey of 3-4 years, and it is a short period. We had rapid growth in a short time. I kept asking the same question how did this all happen so soon? The answer I got was the focus. The bow and arrow even represent Arjuna, who has taught me a lot about life. 

The final tattoo is a bow and arrow to remind me of focus.

Meaning of each tattoo

Phoenix- Hope

Aum- Positivity

Shiva’s Tattoo- Calm

Tiger- Toughness

Philippians 4:13- Humility

Bow and Arrow- Focus

This is the story behind all my tattoos. They all constitute positive self-talk. They help me with being a better version of myself. All have different strengths and have different messages.

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TO MY GREATEST MENTOR EVER – RANVEER ALLAHBADIA.

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