ICE

 
It was the early 90’s and I had heard a lot about ice through various sources but never had an chance to see a ice cube apart from the Arun ball Ice cream my mother brought for me and sister whenever we had to go to dentist. After we ate the ice cream we preserved those balls and used it for various purposes like a cricket ball, to put in the few paise's we get as left overs. During those days our home did not have a refrigerator or in other words we never felt we needed one until latter when the advertisements made us think that we were missing some thing very integral to the day to day life.

It happened on a Sunday December early morning in 1991 when the temperature was dropping to less than 15 degree and everything was kind of freezing for someone who always lived in +30 degrees. We could feel how deep the freeze was when we wake up in the morning and take the parachute cocoanut oil from the kitchen shelf to realize the whole oil has been turned from liquid to semi-solid and it refuses to come out until we keep it near the burning stove for few minutes. We were staying in a rented house and brought our milk from the MILMA vendor who would distribute the packets early morning by placing them into the plastic bag we placed on our gate. As mom was making tea for us she wanted me to pick up the paper and MILMA packet.From my front door I could see the gate and see if the milk packets were placed in the plastic bag. As i went out I could see the morning waking from the crutches of the cold night and everything coming to life with the sunrise warming the horizon. As I grabbed the milk packets from the bag I felt the cold pass through my warm hands but what was more exciting was the few lumps inside the MILMA packet which felt like frozen milk. I rushed to the kitchen and grabbed the black sicssors from the kitchen rack and emptied the packets into a wide mouthed aluminum container which had ANU written on it when it was brought from the store. The name was more kind of marking a territory and my sister had her share of utensils which we both had a personal connection with. As the milk emptied into the container I could see those floating ice lumps that could have been created when the packet was inside the freezer when it was transported from the factory to our local vendor. On a normal day by the time vendor reaches our home it would have melt sitting in his cycle but today was special with the temperature favoring the ice lumps to remain in their state. I was excited to see a raw form of ice other than the processed ice that I ate from the Arun ice cream ball. I cried out for my sister and we fished those ice cubes using a spoon which had her name written on it. As soon it was in our hands the warmth of our body started it to change its shape and soon it just vanished into thin air remaining the traces of milk in our hands. Though it was only for few minutes the excitement carried a long way residing in some corner of my heart and comes out every time i see ice cubes. How funny is life, isn’t it?

Massage !!

 
The appointment was initially booked for my wife but she had to reschedule it as she had to travel out side the city. So when I called them and asked for rescheduling the appointment they said they would charge $30 for rescheduling. So without a second thought I decided to use that schedule for me.It has been so long that I have been looking forward for my first massage. I have read a lot about massages, visited their websites and was excited about the pleasure it brings when the warm oil meets the lazy muscles, to pamper the muscles to release all those tension and feel light. I always wanted one for a long time but never happened to book it as priorities often shifted gears and now here I was on my way for my first massage. I had no clue on to what was to happen there but I had heard from my wife that their ambience was soothing and the background music takes your thoughts into deep mystic woods to been lost and floating through it. As soon I reached there the front office gave me a form to fill it and as I did the paper work they had columns like what kind of massage you wanted and from my experience with all those readings before I wrote that I needed deep tissue and sports massage. I gave back the form to the young lady there at the front desk and she asked me to wait as my massage therapist would call me. I waited there in their couch flipping pages of an old fashion magazine.
 

  Soon a lady in her early 20’s called my name and she introduced her as Natasha and told that she would be my massage therapist. She walked me to the massage room that was having a full length table like i have seen at Doctors office. She told me that I could relax and remove what is needed and she would be back in some time. I removed my watch, my glasses, my cell phone and my shoes and I waited for her at the chair placed in the corner of the room. As I waited I observed the room and it had all that’s needed for to create a  perfect massage ambience. A Chinese music playing in background, aromatic candles burning to fill the air with those relaxing aroma, a show table on the other corner with few show pieces on it like a small china man, Chinese dragon and few Chinese symbols which I did not understand. I waited for her to begin my first massage and after few minutes she knocked on the door and I said a big yes. When she came in she was bit taken back seeing me fully clothed and I wondered why which I realized that I need to remove my shirt and trousers for massage. That cleared a big confusion on should I be removing them or not and now she had clearly defined it that I can remove that and place myself under the warm blanket on the massage table. I did expect for the inner wears which I had thankfully worn a nice one on that day and placed myself under the warm blanket with a thought that what a fool i was to expect the whole body massage as fully clothed. In a while she knocked again and this time I was really ready and the stage was all set to go for the first massage. We started with small talks and about my expectations and which part of the body really needed more care. She said that some people will sleep during the massage, some cry and others laugh and I was wondering what would I be doing. As she started with massage I heard a new term called muscle knot which I learned from her and she kept breaking it. The massage gained momentum accompanied by talks about muscle, life, her country Peru, life at Jacksonville and so on. Massage started with the back and it ended at my foot. 60 minutes flew like a wind and there I was after my first massage and with not sleeping nor laughing or crying but feeling relaxed and light. She told me to take my time in getting back on foot and getting dressed up as some people have a dizziness after their massage. As I stood on my feet I felt as strong as ever and after getting dressed up I walked out and there she was waiting for me with a bottle of water. I thanked her and promised to be back once in a while. As I drove back home I realized I had one wish less in my bucket list.