Ayurvedic Tourism: In the Land of Four-Star Asceticism

[Guest guest]

Kalari Kovilakom, KERALA (August 13, 2006): She was Glinda in a

sari. Early that morning, she had glided ethereally across the

courtyard with her fellow healing goddesses, their feet bare, their

flowing white garb edged in gold. The bird trills reverberated off

the palace walls.

 

"Please sit," she said prayerfully. Soon, thick warm sesame oil

infused with medicinal herbs began to permeate my meager muslin

thong. She breathed heavily, karate-chopping the oil with the edges

of her hands. She gently pummeled me with poultices, hot bundles of

herbs resembling bouquets garnis. In the background, I heard oil

sizzling. I felt a strange compulsion to go fry myself in a wok.

 

There is a sign at the entrance to Kalari Kovilakom, the more than

150-year-old palace in the state of Kerala, India, now known as the

Palace for Ayurveda, that says "Please Leave Your World Here." But,

having encountered elephants ambling along the highway from the

airport, you already have. You have taken the Order, the humble oath

of four-star asceticism. You have agreed to forsake all known forms

of vacation decadence (rice gruel for dinner, anyone?), to give up

meat, alcohol, caffeine, leather accessories, naps, sunbathing,

swimming and mindless frivolity in order to purify and balance your

whacked-out Western body and soul.

 

You are here to immerse yourself in ayurveda, the 3,500-year-old

herb-based healing tradition that still flourishes in the daily life

of India.

 

Within the palace's teak-columned halls, with exquisite images of

gods and goddesses carved into the ceiling, you are less tourist

than nun. Your Patagonia clothes, bought at great expense in

anticipation of premonsoon humidity and soaked in a toxic cocktail

of insecticide as per your doctor's instructions, have been

exchanged for compulsory no-frills attire meant to relax the mind.

These were whipped up overnight by a tailor who came to your room —

garments, as one guest from London observed, "that made us look a

bit like `One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.'"

 

For pilgrims with deep pockets wanting an authentic immersion into

this ancient medical system, including a radical purification and

detoxification treatment known as pancha karma, the Kalari

Kovilakom — which markets itself as combining "the indulgence of a

palace with the austerity of an ashram" — is the real deal. Since

the 1970's, "ayurveda tourism" has drawn Lonely Planet acolytes and

Rough Guiders, especially young Germans, to the thatched-hut beaches

of southern India, lured by the promise of $5 massages.

 

But with the reimagining of this historic rajah's palazzo by the

Casino Group — Keralan hoteliers who have shrewdly rechristened

themselves CHG Earth — the ante has been considerably upped. [...]

 

(END OF INTRO.)

 

*****

 

FOR COMPLETE ARTICLE (it's excellent) AND SLIDE SHOW (awesome) ,

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SOURCE: The New York Times. In the Land of Four-Star Asceticism By

PATRICIA LEIGH BROWN Published: August 13, 2006

URL: http://travel2.nytimes.com/2006/08/13/travel/13indiaa.html?

ex=1155700800&en=b790c679c4bdd4d7&ei=5087%0A