While in Mysore, I had 2 memorable firsts. The first was my first mysore pak.
If I were a poet or creative in this way at all, I would write a poem dedicated to pak. It is the best sweet in the world. It is so good it feels wrong. A sweet so rich, so buttery, it feels as if you are eating just the butter/sugar mixture (but way way better) that is the filling to some other dessert. This is the way many indian sweets seem to me, that they are missing the flour. But it is lovely. I find that just a bite or two is an exorbitant amount. I have a feeling this is not the way all people feel. We bought a quarter kilo of pak for our landlady back in pune and our building guy as a little gift. We gave our building guy the pak when he came to collect the garbage at 8 in the morning. By the time we went downstairs to go to class at about 8:45 he had eaten the whole box! And he looked like he thought this was not a big deal at all. Either that or he was comatose from all the sugar...
So my other first was also in mysore and it was also a pack. A facial pack. We decided to go to an ayurvedic clinic and treat ourselves to a beauty treatment. THe clinic we went to was much more of a real ayurvedic clinic and less so a place that caters to people with money who want massages and facials, etc. I have never had a facial in my life, and I am quite glad that my first experience was in India. I have a feeling that nothing will ever compare...
So, first thing was that they had us hop up onto this large wooden table and sit upright with our legs hanging over the edge. They they poured vast amounts of oil into our hair ( i mean VAST) and rubbed the hell out of our heads. I have never had anyone rub my head with such force or for such a long time in my whole life. It made me aware of my head in a way that i have never experienced. I have never thought about all these different parts of my head that I have never had rubbed and pounded before. Yes it was a bit agressive but i found that i liked it.
Next, we sit cross legged on the table and bend over to put our faces in this little steamer. It was so hot my face was burning and the sweet indian woman providing this service kept pushing my face down each time i tried to come up for air! So i was dripping, burning, and laughing.
Then, finally I got to lie down. She then poured VAST amounts of oil onto my face and rubbed my face with more strength than I think is required. It was also nice, except for the part where my lips were rubbed against my teeth and i had to squeeze my eyes shut in fear that my eyeballs would be deformed from the rubbing.
Then, we got the pack. Special all natural home made mud stuff that they rubbed on my face. AFter about ten minutes or so, i was then told to rinse my face. Which meant bending over this tiny sink and trying to rinse off all the mud from my face and neck. This was difficult. Then I dried my face on a communal towel.
The whole time, the indian women were whispering and giggling. Of course, as any egocentric american would, I assume that they were giggling at me. Maybe because my hair is funny or because i look like a man, or because we were paying what to them is a lot a lot of rupees for them to pound on our heads. Or maybe it was because I tried to take off my white shirt a total of 3 times during this experience. They physically stopped me every time. I had a tank top on too, they just WOULD NOT let me take off my shirt.
So my one nice shirt got its first pack to, and it is now PACK full of oil and mud stains. But i have decided this is a small price to pay for this jam PACKed experience!
