I’m a pretty open person so many of you will already know
this but I’ve been experiencing a lot of internal health problems for the last
little while. It seems that all my little body messengers don’t like to talk to
one another and their silent treatment to each other has been wreaking havoc on
me. I have been to a slue of doctors and am so grateful for the things I have
been able to receive help with. I know they have made a difference. Even still,
there seems to be some lingering of certain things here and there so I have
been exploring more natural/homeopathic options as well. Turns out it is a lot
easier to explore those kind of options here because it is everywhere and well,
Indians are kind of masters of homeopathic solutions. I mean come on, they
wrote the Ayurveda’s.
So this last rest day I decided to get an Ayurveda massage
before meeting up with everyone else at the beach. Of course I didn’t go alone,
we are never to be alone in India so I never would of done it unless someone
else was on board to come with me. Thank all that is holy that Claartje, our Construction Coordinator who is from the Netherlands, came with me. If she
hadn’t been willing to come then I would have had to ask one of the BYU nursing
students to come and I really don't think they would have been comfortable.
YEAH for Europeans!
Keep in mind the website for this place and the reviews in
the Lonely Planet books we have were all really positive and made it look like
a really clean and uppidy spa. And it is not that it wasn’t legit, it was just
presented in a completely different way. No joke, here is the pic from their
website.
Contrast that with a cement slab room, only windows for
light, a fan that didn’t work because the electricity was out (typical for how
hot India is right now) all while being greeted with the exoskeleton of a dead
gecko while changing. And changing into what you may ask? There were these
apron things that I went to put on but was stopped by the masseuse who then
proceeded to tie a rope around my waist and tuck a strip of disposable sanitary
paper in the front and back, creating what can only be compared to a loincloth,
just a really small Papa New Guinea type loincloth. Because Indian culture is
so modest I for sure wasn’t expecting a loincloth to be the standard, but it
was all part of the adventure I guess. And an adventure it was. The masseuse
was very skilled and professional and I never once felt like anything was
inappropriate or shady. That is saying a
lot considering I only had my loincloth. And there were some parts where just
me and my loincloth (and of course Claartje in the corner) were sitting in a
chair while he was working on my head. Despite manty parts of it being
completely different then I expected, it was 75 minutes of pure heaven. There
were numerous times where he would place his hands over different parts/the
chakras of my body and bless them which was pretty cool. I did have to contain
my giggles when he was blessing my butt chakra because sometimes I still giggle
over silly little things like that. There was a lot of ritualistic oil use and
oil sprinkling and these sand bag things that were warmed up on a gas stove and
then used to massage my spine and such. Since I didn’t end up being sacrificed
I can only assume it was a positive thing. I felt really good afterwords and my
body has seemed to be more India friendly since having the massage done. I
haven’t noticed any negative side affects so regardless of whether there was
true medicinal value to it or not, I was a fan. I definitely wouldn't mind
getting it done a few more times before I come home, loincloth and all. The
other funny thing about this story is that when I went to check in I saw my
name on the reservation list from when I had called the previous day---Ashree.
Sweeeeet right?!?! I am now known by many of the volunteer as Ashree.
After the massage we had lunch and went over to the
beach---which for the first time since I have been here wasn’t angry so I
actually got to play in it and it was fabulous! There were some locals there
that had forgone the Indian swimsuits and were sporting the other kind of
Indian swimsuit-full clothing. I don’t feel like that would be enjoyable at all
but to each their own I guess. There are always merchants on the beach in
Mamallapuram so I decided to be brave and talk to some of them. It isn’t that I
am actually scared of them, they are just so persistent that I have to prepare
myself for the possible leeching of the merchants. It wasn’t too bad though. I
had a nice long haggle session with a man and his wife. He was outrageous at
first but after talking to him for a while he decided “no more deceiving
because God is watching.” I gave him a hard time about that reminding him that,
“God was watching the whole time before when he was trying to deceive me.” We
had a good laugh. My personal favorite was when his wife whips out these dead
seahorses and throws them on the market table-i.e. piece of fabric on the sand.
I thought it was a joke but they said that the seahorses are for grinding into
a powder and mixing with milk—which makes you strong and healthy. I’m not sold
on that yet. Only time will tell if that ever changes.
