Aromatherapy

I come across eye-popping bargains every other day on Cobone, Groupon etc.  on beauty packages from popular salons, aromatherapy being one among them.  Despite the heavily discounted prices and the fancy salons, I know I will never treat myself to one of these aromatic wonders. It is probably because of my first aromatherapy experience. It surely is.

Here’s the deal. Dpu and I, while we were on our honeymoon, opted for this one particular “Adam and Eve” aromatherapy session. Two problems with it. One,we both had blocked noses. So we asked the masseuse to just tell us what oil she chose so that we could work up an imaginary aroma and two, they informed me that there would be a guy present in the same room as mine, massaging Dpu. My shock, on hearing this,was evidently visible, thanks to the popping whites of my eyes, they assured me that the guy was utmost professional. I did not buy this even for a second. But, since I did not want to look like a prude, I went ahead with it and the supposedly romantic massage turned out to be so bad, for, during the entire session I was staring at the guy to check if he stole a glance towards me. Halfway through the session, I decided it was too stressful and called the damn thing off and got out of there as soon as possible and swore to myself that I would never do this again. I convinced myself that it was a pure waste of time, money and had absolutely nothing to do with relaxation.

Four years down the lane, I was in the middle of the regular grocery shopping  ordeal when I accidentally smelt Mysore Sandal Soap. Now, that was how my grandma used to smell. I vividly remember taking in the smell, it surely hit my brains and journeyed through my whole system pumping out the so-called ‘ feel good hormones’ in abundance. It was 10 seconds of absolute bliss and it left me feeling refreshed, rejuvenated and healed, all what an aromatherapy session claims to give you, right? And I didn’t even have to buy that soap. Similarly,  ‘Vibhuti’ or ‘the sacred ash’, reminded me of my grandpa…seriously, I do not know of anything that smells as fresh and clean and divine. I could go on but I won’t because I don’t expect you to be interested in knowing what my favorite smells are especially when it has nothing to do with the classy but over priced ‘essential oils’ that come in the tiniest of bottles. ( I wonder why we call them ‘essential’). Every summer, when we were in school, we would go over to stay at Palakkad, where grandma used to live.I think, that is where we all received the aromatherapy for a lifetime. We used to literally spend every waking moment and sleeping moment taking in the smell of ripening mangoes and that was nothing short of bliss. So maybe next time you are tempted by one of those lucrative spa offers which invariably come out when you are hopelessly broke, go take a nice, deep whiff of one of your favorite smells, be it a mango, some freshly baked bread or even your pet dog who has not been bathed for over a year now.