Thursday 13^th December

Enid* has tagged me, to write a list of my top five Christmas wishes.  I read hers with admiration; they were really quite elegant…mostly:

1. Many Kath-and-Kim-isms over the holiday season
2. World Peace
3. Health, harmony, no poverty
4. A booger-free five year old
5. Books

So what are mine??  I don’t think I can go past World Peace but maybe this is just a bit global…I think I will scale down a bit and just go for:

1. Kindness, just a bit more, globally and locally
2. Fun, ditto (but no practical jokes…)

I think I can just about manage to echo Enid’s No. #3

3. Health, harmony, no poverty

On a family level I will wish for:

4. Health, harmony and no unwanted weight gain for any of us (I can be very shallow, in my basic wishes…)

And for myself – well yes many books, both in hard copy and for my iPad, but REALLY what I want most of all is…

5. No seasickness and no homesickness…

*http://enidbite-em.blogspot.com.au/

India #42

Pete thinks I spent many hours away from my friends, cloistered in Internet cafes.  This is partly true.  I did find myself squashed in with other people at horrid sticky keyboards, in small sweltering rooms, at various times on our travels.  And once in a while we stayed in a place where the owners realised there were rupees to be made from having an internet connection.  But most of the time my attempts to get into cyberspace failed.  Many reasons – power failures; umm – no connection, don’t know why, sorry; workers off having a siesta.  There are in fact power failures all the time, in India. 

At one stage I did find myself cosily ensconced in a small internet café at Calengute Beach (other end of Baga Beach, in Goa.)  I was busily typing away on the (horrid sticky) keyboard when I heard cries of despair from the computer next to me.  A young Austrian girl, Romina, was writing a job application, in English, for a job as a flight attendant in Dubai.  Her English wasn’t quite up to it and I had to help her.  She was quite argumentative and her boyfriend and I had quite hard time of it trying to convince her not to put too many personal and ungrammatical details down.  When we had finished she told me she was in fact a professional hairstylist and had her whole kit with her.  Would I like her to cut my hair… I declined; my hair was very fluffy and dishevelled from all of the moisture and I didn’t think anyone could do anything much with it; but did it look THAT bad??

The only beauty treatment I had in India was a massage, on one of our first days in Goa.  They are famous for Ayurvedic massage in this part of the country.  I can’t remember how much it cost – maybe 100 rupees?  A nice, silent young woman with big muscles led me into a small shelter with a massage table of sorts.  It was just a narrow slab entirely covered with thick plastic.  I had to take all of my clothes off and let me tell you it was a FULL body massage.  I emerged slightly startled with no body part un-pummelled and un-oiled.  All very nice, really, but, come to think of it, I didn’t go back for seconds….

When told one of my friends at work about this massage, she shuddered slightly.  “I don’t think I would have liked the massage!  Couldn’t have handled it!”  I laughed and said that yes it had all been a bit confronting.  A bit later, I was looking up some stuff on Google, mainly about scams in India.  Lots of traveller’s tales popped up, and I read them very happily until I came to one with a warning about Ayurvedic massage.  Oh no!  Let’s hope this only applied in Kerala not in Goa….

“Beware of massage parlours in Varkala.  This is a message to all women who may decide to have the Ayurvedic massages in Varkala, Kerala. Whilst visiting this otherwise lovely spot on the cost of Kerala, I decided to have a full body massage at the Scientific Yoga and Massage Centre on the cliff top at Varkala, however there were several peep holes around the room and I was being spied on by several male onlookers, which obviously was awful.  I later spoke to another person about this and apparently the woman (name withheld) allows the men to look on.”

(But I must say when I put this to Pete, in wavering tones, he said nonsense that it would have been impossible for anyone to be creeping round my particular tin massage shed to peer at the goings-on within.  Phew!!)

I had thought of having manicures along the way, just to see what they do, but it seemed everywhere all they wanted to do with hands was henna tattoos and I really and truly did not want henna tattoos.  I think they ONLY look nice on Indian women.  The only one of us, surprisingly, who had real beauty treatments was Pete!  Early on he went to a barber, at Colva, and came back looking extremely neat.  The barber had cut all of his hair very well, just using scissors.  I wish I had gone to watch.  It has fallen to my lot to cut Pete’s hair, with electric snippers, and I think I do a fairly bad, uneven job of it.  (Not quite fair; I am improving!)  I need lessons; why was I lolling about reading my book when I could have been learning from a master?

The other thing he was persuaded to do was to have a shave, both times at the Taj Beauty Saloon in Goa.  This was a tiny little shed on the side of the road, with a wild-looking young man wielding a razor.  The first time he went, he was quoted 50 rupees for a shave.  Fair enough, said Pete, sitting in the chair and making sure a new blade was in the razor.  I bought a bottle of water – we were forever buying bottles of water - from the little shop opposite and sat with the cows in the street and watched.  Well he didn’t just get a shave.  He got a full beauty treatment!  I was very envious.  He got a face massage, a bit of a slap around the cheeks, lots of product rubbed into his head, more massage.  Great fun!  He came out looking very smooth and happy but cross because it had cost 100, not 50.  “But I didn’t ask for all the other things!” he said, even though he had enjoyed being moisturised and beautified very much.  The shave lasted a couple of days so it was well worth it, and I wasn’t at all surprised when he went back for a second time.  This time he said, “Fifty rupees ONLY!” so he didn’t get all the product and slapping and massage.  The barber was very amused; he was pleased with having got away with it the first time.  (Probably he only charges locals 10 rupees for the same thing, but we really didn’t mind paying a bit more.)