The whole thing started with my seasoned Indian auntie, apron-clad therapist asking me in sign language and a few words of broken English to disrobe entirely. Then she affixed a small cotton loincloth to my body. I was then led to a vinyl table, where for the next hour I was slathered with copious amounts of warm, scented oil while being rubbed hastily and vigorously. The massage itself wasn't all that, but the process of becoming an oil slick and sliding around on vinyl provided a novel spa experience--probably one I'm not so keen on recreating.
Next, I was carefully helped onto another vinyl table, this one attached to what appeared to be a Medieval torture device--the oil poring mechanism. For the next half hour, saucepans of heated oil were poured on my hairline and forehead via the bronze device. The process was actually quite lovely, the warm oil like a thick velvet ooze drenching my (often furrowed) brow. At the end, my head was bathed in a pool of the dark yellow brown oil.
The session ended with me in the shower being dunked with buckets of scented water and then being given a highly unpleasant Ayurvedic cordial to drink. Four shampoos later, I'm still trying to extract the last bits of oil from my hair. It was all worth it, as it led to a fabulous blissed out, tranced out state visible in the attached shot.
2 comments:
This just keeps getting better all the time. I laugh out loud as I read. The details of the food and slippery vinyl massage tables would justify at least the admission price to a good movie. As for the "twisty little passages...all different," quite the image of past exploration.
Dad
Yes, Karen, you look totally blissed out. Maybe, in fact, to the point of needing to be deprogrammed. Y'all have been making India look so amazing, though, that I am inclined to come over there right now and offer my services in that regard. I've devised a simple regimen that involves you watching "Must Love Cats" for a few hours while eating Mexican food. Should do the trick. I'll be on the way over shortly, after I pour a bunch of oil on my head!
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