In school, the only piercings allowed were on the earlobes with very small and inconspicuous studs.
I was 16 and can't quite remember what triggered the rebel in me. It was either I couldn't wear a chain or earrings (as opposed to studs), but I was on a mission to find a loophole in the school rule book and find it I did. I decided to pierce my nose, since there was no mention of it in the rule book and of course, how do you tell an Indian, she can't.
There was one small thing, I was and still am super scared of pain—even more than death. I was so scared, that the coward and the rebel had a good ol word tussle on my 3-mile walk to town.
Mum took me to the traditional Indian Piercer Guy. You can either bring your own nose stud or buy one from them. These studs are actually quite thick as they are hollow in the middle of the bit that goes through the nose. This is where a needle is screwed in, nose numbed with some traditional stuff and Piercer Guy will press it through, unscrew the needle and screw in the back.
It was obvious I was so scared, Mum told me we didn't have to do it. But rebel me sat in the chair and coward me asked Mum to hold my hand. I closed my eyes real tight, squeezed Mum's hand and waited.
But Mr. Piercer Guy tells me to open my eyes. Of course, I said NO. I wanted it over and done with soonest. I told him to "Please, pierce first". I didn't want to see anything, not him picking up the stud, screwing in the needle, needle approaching my nose - NOTHING!!
And he said, "pierce already ma". Mum assured me it was over. I opened my eyes, and my tears came pouring out, the tears that were already pooled but had no escape because my eyes were shut so tight. I started laughing, so happy it was over but more so that I didn't feel anything.
I walked all the way back laughing with tears pouring down my face. The tears were not of joy, more the remnants of the fear that kept pouring out. My laughing though was sheer happiness.
Oh, after the wound healed, the school made me take off the stud. So for the remaining school years, I had to use a garlic stem so the hole wouldn't close.
And then in my 20s, because of work, I took it out and the hole eventually closed. If it hadn't, I would have taken a picture of me with a nose stud or ring for you. Alas!
This is my entry to The Alliance's The Mind's Eye challenge. You can check it out right HERE.
Thank you for reading. Till next time, Carpe Diem❣️
Sh33la
I've made it at age of 14 in France, at a time when NOBODY had never heard of that, and I made it my self with a needle, can you believe it ? 😁 now 37 years later, I still have a nose stud, the school never said anything as I was a good student, a not conventional person but a good student, and that was always the same with my different jobs, nobody cared I had this thing on my nostril, in a time when piercing didn't really exist... now people have dozens of piercings in weird places 😉
You are so brave, Barbara!!
And way cool😁
You must have attracted a lot of attention.
So what made you do it? Did you see it somewhere?
My girl pierced her upper ear for her 16th. (She is way braver than me.)
But it is still an issue in our national schools to have anything more than the conventional ear piercings.
She always made sure her hair covered them(she pierced both ears). Then on sports day, as part of the cheerleading team, her hair was pulled back in a knot, and a teacher noticed and told her if she did not remove it she won't be going out to the field. And we got her the most conspicuous, close to skin tone, tiny studs! Still a no.
Quite obviously still using the same rule book from my time and probably with some new rules added for sure 😏
Lol I find these rules so disrespectful of the person...in my case I stated for myself that if I’d respect the school, the teachers and the other students, I would have no problem at all, they would respect me back and would not care of me having something on my nostril that was not a feature of disrespect....I had very good results at school so I was kinda confident I had great advantages on my side, I dressed not like others, was kinda creative or weird in the way I was doing and acting ( never integrated groups or such, I was trying to find my own self and personality, so I felt being in groups was just killing my awareness of being a human being...I still think it 3to 4 decades later 😄)
I.m happy for them that my children are joyfully exactly the same, I never talked them into behaviors but I acted and behaved, and they just picked along the way, and I can witness they are so kind and loving human beings with a great awareness and a respect for life , and they do not listen to mainstream, they do what feels good to them, they do not hide behind others in a collective consciousness but are creating themselves every day, in a respectful way of themselves and others 😊
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Awesome story, thank you for joining the contest!