Cleansing day

Today was cleansing day.  Alarm went at 5.40 as I knew that "medicines, Madam" would be there at 6.  Sure enough, I was sitting on the terrace reading when he came along with a glass of warm sludge and told me to drink it.  It tasted of liquorice and pepper and ginger and honey, with an aftertaste of chanel no 5,  but it was still sludge and I had to battle the gagging reflex.  I will not tell more about the effects of the sludge.  After a while I felt a bit queasy, and so I shuffled off to breakfast and had 3 cups of very gingery ginger tea.  


At 10 a waiter appeared at my terrace with a glass of coconut water. "Drink this, Madam" he commanded.  30 minutes later the doctor appeared.  "How are you?" she asked.   "Have you been to the toilet?"  "How many times?"  Not totally satisfied with my answers, she shook her head from side to side and left.  She seemed disappointed that I was fine.  Tired and feeling the effects of the sludge, I went for a wee lie down.  I was just starting to dream of the office, when a loud knock on the door saved me. "Sorry for disturb, Madam, but this is for you" said the smiling waiter.  This, I understood, was my lunch.  A bowl of salty rice gruel and a green ball of something.  I thought it looked like a pistachio sweet of some kind and therefore saved it for after the gruel.  It was coconut and salt and herbs all chopped up very fine and then rolled into a disgusting ball.  Yuck.


2 o'clock torture time soon came round.  I dragged myself up the hill to Beena and Binjhu who greeted me warmly.  Beena: "Have you been to the toilet?"  "How many times?"  "Vomiting?"  When I said no, I had not vomited, Beena sniffed.  That was the wrong answer. When I told her about the ginger tea she shook her head, not from side to side Indian yes fashion, but  western style, eyes heavenward "you stupid woman" fashion.  Beena and Bindhu were kind to me today and did not thump me with anything at all.  A facepack.  Something cold on my eyelids.  I was starting to feel pampered.  "Sit" she  ordered.  And then they brought out a big brass bowl of mud like sludge.  It smelt like the stuff I drank this morning.  They plastered it on my head.  Then the banana leaf was applied.  "One hour keeping" instructed Beena.  As I left, Bindhu put a teatowel round my neck as if it were a jasmine garland.  Back at my terrace, reading my book, I soon realised that brown liquid was running down my face and neck as the sludge was melting in the heat.  That was what the teatowel was for.  4 washes it took to get that sludge out of my hair.  So at least my hair is cleansed.