Inking the deal with India Inc! What Ajinkya Firodia, Ananya Birla's tattoos mean

Tattoos are, to those who choose to get them, a memory etched forever with a needle. Leading corporate names reveal what it means to them and why, in a literal sense, they put some skin in the game.

Ajinkya Firodia
MD,Motoroyale, MV Agusta India
“I got inked twice a couple of years ago. One tattoo is the letter ‘A’ on my left wrist, which stands for my name as well as for Arjun, my younger son. I have another tattoo on my right arm, which is very personal. It says, ‘I do not prevail’ and it gives me the motivation to take risks, do something new and make sure that I succeed.”


Yuvraj Singh
Cricketer

“I got a tattoo in 2007. It is the number 12 in Roman numerals with two eagle wings. My dad has an eagle tattoo across his shoulders. I just took the wings away. The number 12 is significant since I was born on December 12, at 12 pm, and I am from sector 12. It is said that once you get a tattoo, the next one follows. If something beautiful happens in my life, I may consider immortalising it with another tattoo.”

Ananya Birla
Entrepreneur

“I have five tattoos in all. One of them that says ‘Conquer’ means a lot to me. Everyone has mornings where they don’t feel like getting out of bed, and when I see it [the tattoo] I think I have to conquer the day. Whether it’s to conquer a new song or venture or my fears, the word means a lot to me.”

Sunjay Ghai
CEO, Revofit

“I always flirted with the idea of getting a tattoo, but I could never decide what I should get inked. That is, until my daughter was born. In that moment I knew what I wanted. I promptly went and got her name tattooed on my forearm. This was in 2010. Her name is Anaiyaa.”

Luis Miranda
Director, Next Story Group

“I have two tattoos. The first one I got on my upper left arm in 2010, which, I guess, was my midlife crisis. It’s a reflection of the sun with arrows all around and the first letter of my wife’s name, Fiona, in the middle. It is to signify that she’s the epicentre of my universe.

The second one, my wife and I got on our right forearm on our 25th wedding anniversary this year. It’s a sunflower indicating how our relationship has always been sunny. Below the tattoos, I have Fiona and she has Luis written in the way we would sign off our letters before we got married.”

Bhavik Vasa
Chief Growth Officer, ItzCash

I got a tattoo when I was 17 during a trip to Goa with friends. I walked in, the tattoo artist gave me a piece of paper and told me to draw what I wanted. The artist imitated my handwriting and wrote the line – ‘Leave my mark behind’- on the dorsal surface of my right foot. That's somehow become the foundation of everything I have done from thereon. Every day when I wear my socks to step out of the house, I look at the tattoo and it motivates me.