NEW YEAR's EVE....

FROM DECEMBER 31st

The big night arrives, Ziraj has booked a Mumbai DJ for the New Year’s Eve party so we’re duty bound to go to Dolphin Bay. The first part of the evening is fun, we watch as hundreds of Indians swarm onto the far end of the beach paddling fully clothed in the sea. We wander over to Dolphin Bay where our elephant Rajive stands fully decked out in festival gear with glorious golden headpiece. We take our front seats watching as Indian families stroll by in their ‘Sunday best’ mixed with mottley gringos, some dressed up, some dressed down some dressed in drag ….. all seeming to have a nervous agenda. Our boys at Dolphin Bay are frenzied and distracted, all 5 courses arrive at once! We decide to take a stroll, the cliff edge is packed, there’s a nervous tension in the air, young foreigners in the bars drinking, Russian babouzchkas scantilly clad, young Indian men on the cliff edge oggling and knocking back hard liquor. I begin to feel uncomfortable …too many people, too much alcohol, too long a drop down the unguarded cliff edge!
Back at Dolphin Bay the mucic is pounding ….. instead of the Bangra and Bollywood disco we’ve been promised techno tunes at a deafening decibal pierce the air. Lots of european kids jostling on the dance floor, wielding bottles of beer. I’m not feeling up to this! I’m feeling like peace and quiet and reflection, I want to leave, but stay a while for my pals, Corinne is dancing with the boys. Midnight comes and goes …. It’s New Year and nobody knows! No acknowledgement, no Auld Lang Seine, no friends raising a cup of kindness, no remembering 2006, one of the hardest years of my life. Perhaps it’s best that it’s not remembered, but somehow I want to acknowledge it, the difficulties, the sadness, the loss. The speakers are bursting my eardrums, some young buck sprays beer over the crowd, the police arrive to extract a bribe … …. my cue to leave. I leave Corinne with a New Years hug before walking away to go bury my head in my pillow and make a new year’s resolution, never again! No more drunken New Year’s parties! From now on I will have contemplative New Years in remote and beautiful places.

My Ayurvedic Massage

FROM DECEMBER 30TH

Ayurveda was, of course the first kind of ‘Medical tourism’ here in Kerala, foreigners have been coming here for decades to experience this amazing alternative to allopathic medicine. Along with my new crown, for New Year I get a wonderful gift from Corinne of an Ayurvedic massage. The 11/2 hour treatment was partly keralite foot massage too. The whole process was an intense experience, all inhibitions should be left at the door!
My masseuse took me to a private room, where I was instructed to remove everything, clothes and ornaments, and sit naked on a stool infront of her, fully clothed in her salwar kameez. Loosening my hair she poured a green coloured, roasted coconutty oil over my head, massaging my scalp and ruffling my hair. Then I was instructed to lie on the rubberized floor matt as she spread copious amounts of sweet caramelly oil over my back and legs. Holding onto a rope for balance she expertly proceeded to massage my back in long strokes with her foot. She moved onto my arms then legs with firm confident strokes, repeating the proceedure on my front body. I was helped to my feet to lie on a massage table, a second masseuse appeared, more oil, and then in perfect synchronized rythem there were 2 sets of hands making sweeping across my body, over my breasts, down my legs. The rythmic rocking was mesmerizing, the strokes firm and fast. Although certain techniques were ticklish and made me laugh, much to their amusement! Still they did not break their silence. They made me feel at ease despite my nakedness, but I did feel very naked and very exposed in this land where I am always conscious of covering up, where women are habitually covered from head to toe. I marvel that such an intimate form of massage should have developed here in India where it is impossilbe even for people to bathe in the sea without clothes on.
As I sank into surrender that perfumed sugary smell of indian sweets seemed to waft through the air, I vaguely realized it was the bright pink cream she was using to massage my face. When the session was over both girls lead me to the adjoining shower room to wash off the oil and rinse my hair. This was perhaps my only uncomfortable moment, feeling like a maharani being bathed by her servants, I opted to wash myself instead. I left feeling supple, relaxed and squeaky clean and the next day, very tired! I couldn’t imagine having the prescribed treatment course of 10 days without feeling exhausted, and all from lying down and doing nothing!

Crowning Glory!

FROM DECEMBER 28th

One day on the beach I spot some odd behavior among the gringos…. An older woman in a teeny weeny bikini, first smiling then snarling at herself, mirror in hand…strange?? She proceeds to lift her upper lip and examine her own teeth with intense interest…. Somewhat like examining the teeth of a horse (the analogy is not so far removed…. her chompers being exceedingly long and pearly!) … hmmm? Later in a café on the cliff I see a similar display among to males of the species…. Must be a local custom, I thought… until the next day, climbing to the cliff walk by a different route the truth is revealed! A sparkling new dental surgery offering all mod cons in dentistry for the discerning tourist. There seems to be a new trend in ‘toothy tourism’ …. ‘come lie on the beach, soak up the sun, fix a few fillings and cap a few crowns!’ You can even have your entire smile re-designed at half the price!
As it happens I’m in the market for a new crown myself, having chipped a tooth badly before leaving….. I decide to check it out. I step into a squeaky clean surgery, recline in the chair, feeling a little unnerved by not one but two indian dentists gazing into my open mouth jabbering away in Malayalum. Eventually…. ‘ Yes Madame, actually you need three crowns not one! Oh no, no, no! Much to their disappointment I finally bargain it down to the original one, then have a choice of Indian or finest German porcelain. Well what would you choose?? Not that I’ve any way of knowing! They say they can do it in 3 days ….. and they do! Despite my childhood fear of the drill they tell me it won’t hurt…. and it doesn’t! They’re a little heavy handed but when it costs $120 (including an ultrasonic cleaning!) instead of $1000 I can live with that. I leave with a promise that if my crown drops off I’ll send it back for someone else J and as soon as the others need doing I’ll be on the first plane to Kerala!
Later I read more about this new form of ‘Medical Tourism’ savvy europeans and americans get expensive medical tests and treatments like MRI’s, angioplasty or even cardiac surgery at short notice and a fraction of the cost in Kerala’s well equipped specialist centers. Tours of the future could read “ 7 nights on a house boat, quadrupal bypass surgery, ayurvedic rejuvenation, smile designing, cataract surgery and wilderness trekking!”