She started her day six am everyday at her PG accommodation with a small meal of two leftover rotis rolled in an aluminium foil from the previous night’s dinner. And a hot mug of milky, sweet tea. She had to take a quick shower, & dress up before she could board the BMTC bus to her workplace, an upscale spa in North Bangalore. It was a two hours travel, one way. She had a smartphone & a cheap headphone to listen to her favorite Soft Rock music during the long, tiring journey. Originally she was from a village in Nagaland, had worked in a Delhi spa for about a year, then shifted to her current employer. They paid & treated her well, clients were sophisticated too. She managed to send a good amount to her mother & younger sister every month through online transfers.
The Lobby team greeted her cheerfully, on arrival at the five star hotel reception. Her workplace was on the terrace of the hotel. On weekends they got loads of clients, both house guests & walk-ins. She quickly changed into her uniform, a lab-assistant like attire & a fake pair of Crocs. She gulped down a small bottle of packaged water kept for the guests, she was thirsty. Then she washed her hands in the washbasin with a potassium permanganate based hand wash. Her nails were trimmed neatly, so not to scratch a client’s skin. The Spa Manager did a quick look through of her uniformed avatar and smiled in approval.
She guided her client to the massage chamber after he had signed the good health declaration & his choice of aromatic oil. A full body massage would take about an hour. Then the client would proceed to a steam bath followed by a cup of green tea with honey. Her client was in his mid-forties, with a dad-bod & a friendly smile. After he changed and was lying down comfortably on his stomach on the spa bed, she started working on his tired limbs, one by one. The right leg first, followed by the left leg, the lower back and then the upper back. She noticed something on his lower back, a whitish birth mark in a size of a rupee coin. Her hands stopped, the client was in a deep slumber by then so he didn’t realize. Her father used to work as the village mason, and used to visit the big city of Dimapur very often on work. On his way back he used to buy pastries for the family, the city had an amazing bakery. All of them used to dig their teeth greedily into soft pastries. So much of life & laughter for all of them. Just before going to bed, she used to massage her father’s tired back till he snored. A drop of tear fell on her client’s neck, and… he woke up.
She finished off with his neck and shoulders slowly, then started massaging a headful of salt and pepper curls, and then both his hands. she gently rubbed off the extra oil from his body with a large, warm towel. He smiled, moved to the shower room, and came out to the reception, dressed up in his chino shorts and a collared tee. She looked into his eyes & offered him a package of six future treatments at a great discount. He smiled warmly at her, and swiped his credit card in the EDC machine for the entire package amount. He sipped his green tea which she had hurriedly handed over to him before collecting the payment. She peeped into the feedback form with top ratings. Before leaving, he patted her on head gently and handed over a few hundred rupee notes.
On her way back home, she bought an expensive chocolate pastry from the hotel’s bakery shop that day.
arunprakashray 