This is probably not going to be a daily blog, as I have been SOOOO tired the last few days. The karma in the pan is really getting to me.
Thus far, it has remained as interesting an experience as I could have hoped it to have been. I've had the usual ups and downs of working to an Indian schedule, but not as many downs as one would have expected from a cleansing perspective (if you get what I mean?).
Where was I last? Oh yeah, 1st day of the ghee. I arrived on Sunday to take my second dose out of four. Luckily the manager was there, and he was able to explain that unfortunately, the amount would increase every day. I was now up to 35ml. That was ok. I could deal with that. My sister had asked what it tasted like, so my aim of the day was to actually analyse the taste.
The ghee tastes like oily goat, that's all I can say. If I didn't have water and gum to clean my mouth after the down in one, the milk that I had to take also tasted like this. Well, not quite, it tasted like warm, oily, goats milk. Bleurgh. I also found out the reason for the lemon: it wasn't an offering to the god of Panchakarma, whomever that might be! It was a sensational distraction to stop my body from rejecting said oily goat. I must say, it does work.
On Monday, I arrived to no manager, and no aryuvedic Dr, as had been scheduled. The new receptionist placed that days ghee in front of me. The glass seemed somewhat less full than the previous day. I couldn't believe the words coming out of my mouth:
"There's not enough ghee in that glass"
The receptionist looked confused. He didn't say anything. Not even a head shake which told me I was correct.
"How much is there? How many ml?"
"Madam, please wait for the DR"
And with that he whisked up the tray delights and disappeared out of the office.
I waited, and waited, and waited. I heard people speaking anxiously on the phone. Of course being linguistically challenged, I could not understand the full conversation, but the words:
'Ghee, DR, clinic, 500 rupees, Ghee (again), still here, Kerala shop, Ghee, 500 rupees'
led me to ascertain that they had in actual fact run out of ghee and had tried to palm me off with the dregs of the bottle. Pft. Not happy. I stuck my head around the office door:
"Where's the DR? I've been waiting here 40 minutes."
By this point it was 11am. I still hadn't eaten anything that day.
I was distracted by a young woman wafting through the door. I thought perhaps she was a client or a manager. She was tall, lithe, young and GORGEOUS. She was also the DR. This was NOT what I had been expecting. I was waiting for a serious, old, bespectacled, and wizened man with knowledge beyond normal human comprehension (and perhaps some interesting facial hair). Not this.
I was called into her office. We went over diet, what to expect from the programme. She weighed me, and then presented me with my ghee (45ml) - she also giggled a lot.
The whole clinic came to witness the ghee drinking - 2 receptionists, 3 masseurs, a hairdresser, the DR and the cleaner. They all chortled as I gagged. They all wished me well as I went out the door. This was to be repeated the next day (60ml).
But what is it actually like? The drinking part is over very quickly, the after effects last for several more hours - vomit-inducing oily goat burps, and the feeling of the oil lying on top of my stomach - you know like after you've made a meat stock, but before you skim the fat? I'm so glad that this part of it is over. I'm sure you can believe it. I have, however, lost 2 kg or just under 5 pounds - so it's all been worth it. I haven't even finished my first week yet!
Coming Up..... The one where Jenine gets basted and pressure cooked.
NOTE:
After writing my last blog I felt pretty pleased with how I had summed up the situation, but something was bothering me about it. I couldn't quite put my finger on it. Then it came to me. Funny as the situation was, I felt that how I portrayed the receptionist was wrong. I've been living this life for 17 years now, and the one thing I have learned through out all the countries that I have lived in is that just because people are different - culturally, ethnically, religiously, linguistically - it doesn't make them wrong or stupid. And it doesn't make me RIGHT because I see these differences. I also want to note, (I'll expand on this in future blogs) that I think Indians ROCK! I hold my hands up. I'm prejudiced. Of those Indians I know and have met - from very poor and ill educated, right through to extremely wealthy with 3 million university certificates under their belts, I have never been treated with anything other than kindness and respect. Something that is so ubiquitous here in India, is very hard to find anywhere else. So when they all crowded round to watch me in my pain (through morbid fascination as is the thang here) - I thought, 'You know what? I deserve this!'
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