Urban Pleasures

WITH MY CHIN DOWN on a pillow, I cherish the warmth of the herbal potlis on my back. But

I’m thinking about something I’d heard on a show I’d been watching just before my spa appointment—“Mysticism suggests that you must rise above reason and learn to surrender.”

I am at Tattva Spa. A segment under the Elementia brand of wellness, Tattva is a chain of 57 spas in multiple cities across the country. Here, I am experiencing the one housed within Courtyard by Marriott in Gurugram.

After browsing through the menu, I decide on a ‘Potli Massage’; the thought of hot bundles filled with Ayurvedic herbs pressing against my skin appeals to my tired body and mind. In no time, my therapist leads me to a treatment room, where she first washes my feet with herbal water speckled with rose petals, and asks me to lie down S on the treatment bed.

“Back upwards,” she says.

As somebody who has grown up getting

F head massages O regularly at home, I am all for a good massage. But very few spas have been able to match my grandmother’s champi. And—without sounding vain—I also tend to be exacting in my demands. So, when I say a ‘good’ massage, it has to be so in the real sense of the word; lukewarm doesn’t work for me.

Clouded by these ruminations, I keep my expectations low. My eyes are lightly shut, and I feel a pair of hands oiling the back of my right leg. Strokes with medium pressure follow. Then come the potlis. I sigh a breath of relief as heat from the cloth seeps into my skin.

Moving from one leg to the other, then to my back and troubled shoulders, arms, and finally my stomach, a pair of strong hands and herb-filled potlis come together to soothe my taut nerves and muscles. I am even rewarded with something that would make my grandmother jealous—an effective head massage! By this time, my senses are in a state of complete surrender. The statement from the show suddenly makes sense as I have an epiphany. I open my eyes and ask for a name to put to those sturdy hands. “Marina,” she says.

Skilled hands, effective treatments and soothing ambience make Tattva Spa at Courtyard by Marriott, Gurugram, the perfect place to escape to for a dose of rejuvenation.

Clockwise from top:A well-lit treatment room at the spa; the soothing ambiences relaxes instantly; a wide range of relaxing and rejuvenating treatments is on offer at the spa.