Sukho Thai

Woke up feeling horribly battered...husband too busy, no maid, no driver, assignments piling up, unwashed clothes piling up, dog making the house stink like a public toilet...you know, one of those days.

Decided to go and hit the malls for some retail therapy and landed up at Phoenix Mills, Mumbai. Was just getting out of Pantaloons, when I came across the Sukho Thai outlet on the 1st floor of High Street Phoenix. I was a little skeptical to start with since few Thai massages in India are really anything to talk about. I went for their shortest offering - traditional Thai massage for 30 minutes.

You are asked to change your shoes and pants (they provide the change). The ambience was peaceful - darkened rooms with soft instrumental music, big comfortable reclining sofas, Thai handicrafts and the typical smell of Thai massage parlours permeating through the entire place. 

The massage was competently done and very relaxing. To my aching feet, it felt heavenly. They use a balm for the massage and do the entire leg rather than only the foot. Though the massage was quite different from what I have done in Thailand, the experience was a pleasant one and one that I would love to repeat.After the massage gets over, they give (ginger?) tea and some fruits to eat.

The only problem with the massage is that after your legs are massaged, all the other parts of your body just aches out to be massaged !

The half-an-hour massage was for Rs.660/-. They have some offers on weekdays, between 12 noon to 4 p.m. (20% discount) but these are temporary. They do not have a full body massage but they do have a foot massage+head/shoulder/back massage. I also noticed some foot massages with hot stones and herbs.

[Disclaimer : The reviewer was not invited to review, or given a free massage as a sop. Not that the reviewer would mind the latter option]

A Never-Ending Story

This is the fourth incident in Mumbai in the last three months - of a woman ending her life (mostly due to dowry demands).

The first was on the 8th of March this year when Nidhi Gupta, 32, a chartered accountant, flung her son and daughter to death before jumping from the 19th floor of her house. The second was Deepti Chauhan, 30, who jumped off her terrace after throwing her son. Two days later, on April 17th, Komal Cheda, 31, a bank manager, hanged herself to death. On 10th May, Bhakti Shah, 26, ended her life by jumping from the third floor of the building in which she lived.

One thing that really hits me is - do these women have the right to take the lives of the children ? This is plain murder - murder of innocent children. Suicide is one thing - but murdering young infants is just NOT right.

At least two of the four women were well-educated. What stopped them from moving out ? Is it their upbringing - the so-called "Indian culture" in which a divorcee becomes socially unacceptable ? While I am all for the Indianness which stops us from a string of marraiges~divorces, which makes us think twice before ending a relationship casually, but killing oneself for it ? No way !  

These women obviously do not have the support they need from their families. They lack confidence in their own parents - they probably either feel that they will not be accepted back in their own families or that they would be a burden on them. As a mother, I just feel that I would be happy to have my child safe and with me - whatever be the circumstances.

The strange thing is that all the four incidents have happened in Mumbai - the financial capital of India, one of the biggest metros of the country and not in some unheard of village.     

Ranthambhore

Bandhavgarh has always been the family favourite for tiger encounters - its difficult to return from there without a sighting. So, when Swarup, my husband, suggested a Ranthambhore trip with about 20 other people (colleagues and family), my son, Rudraksh, and I went with an open mind.

We did the trip in April - a terrible time to visit Ranthambhore or any other place in Rajasthan ! We got sun-burnt, got splitting headaches, stomach upsets (though, probably the resort food had something to do with that !). Some portions of the park were a little disappointing - unlike Bandhavgarh while has lush fields / forests, Ranthambhore can be quite bare.

Like most national parks in India, two safaris are allowed daily for tourists - one starting at about 6.30 a.m. and another at about 2.30 p.m. Each safari is for 3 and a half hours.While most people go with a one-point agenda of seeing a tiger, the jungle itself is quite captivating. The birds, the deer, the nilgais and the cool, cool breeze on an otherwise hot day is fascinating in itself. The heat and the dust...well, you notice them only after returning from the safari !

Even more interesting than the tiger-sighting, is the tracking preceding it. The superstitious jump into the canters of drivers who have been lucky during the season and completely avoid fellow-tourists who have not. Close buddies turn foes as they fight for that last seat on the favoured canter. The pugmarks and the warning calls (of monkeys / deer) all add up to the excitement. There have been times when we have spent more than an hour listening to the calls of a 'dumb' monkey and not had a glimpse of the tiger. And the stories that follow at the resort after one group has sighted a tiger...:-)

It was on our second day at Ranthambhore on route no.3 that we got to see a tiger, happily drinking water from a little pond he found under the shade of the forest trees. He took no notice of us till he had had his fill, ambling away nonchalantly after quenching his thirst. He did model for some photos, though. He made our day, and our trip.

There are many other fascinating animals and birds in the park and one should not get disappointed if the tiger is elusive. We got to see crocodiles, vultures (which are so rare these days), a dancing peacock on a hot summer afternoon, treepies which literally ate out of our hands, an owlet and many others. As a prelude to Mother's Day, we also got to see a monkey with her baby and a deer feeding her baby !

 

Tips :

- The most obvious - carry loads of sunscreen, cap, scarf, anything that helps you to cool off.

- Avoid route no. 6 if you can - its difficult to get a sighting there. 

- Carry the best camera you can afford.