Nose Piercing in Pune

Along with more than half of the girls here at ACM, I got my nose pierced. I was the last one to do so. I put it off mainly becuase I wanted my parents to acclimate to the idea, to affirm to myself that I really wanted to do it, and to gauge the health of the nose piercings of my fellow classmates.

So a few weeks before my 22nd birthday (September 24th), I walked down Karve road with two piercing survivors to the jewelry store where the words Anju and ACM triggered a major response. It was quickly pointed out to the staff that I was the intended victim and a spread of three different sizes of nose studs, ranging from 130 to 160 rupees was laid out before me. I picked one; and then the guard (nearly all stores have one) went outside to fetch my piercer, a man who we had passed sitting outside on the dirty stoop. He came inside with a pair of pliers and immediately set about straightening out the selected nose ring to its full (almost one inch) length.

He then walked up to me, brought the stud to my nose, adjust it subtly, and abruptly shoved it through my left nostril with just the pressure of his grimy thumbs. At this point, my eyes watered; and my piercer grabbed his pliers, stuck them up my nose, clipped off the extra metal, and twisted what was left to ensure that it would stay in. Then, I was done...with only a little pain, no blood, and it only cost about three US dollars: $2.50 for the ring and $0.50 for the actual piercing. Sometimes I really love this country.