The world on your massage table

Geo-tagged massages that allow you to vacay without a passport
Stretch it out
Stretch it out

In a lot of ways, dropping in to experience what the Ananta Group of Spas has to offer is like walking around a buffet that has a hundred different cuisines to choose from. Flipping through the menu, while seated at their suitably dimly-lit reception space, the geo-tagged massages read like they’ve been pilfered from Around the World in 80 Days. “When we first started in 2008, my parents wanted to bring a lot of traditional Thai and Asian massage therapies that they had experienced when they travelled,” explains Shruti Nair, Executive Director of the Chennai-based spa group, who runs the spa with her parents Beena and Col D Pradeep Kumar. “Now that the market has really opened up, we’re offering Western massages as well. So that’s Swedish, Hungarian and plenty more to try, in addition to our hallmark Indonesian and Thai routines,” she adds with vigour.

Indonesian odyssey
Of course, when you’re going in after a particularly tough week at work, all you’re looking for is that one great massage to make the world seem like a happy place again. So we took the simplest way out. Much like the logic that pushes us to not eat Roman when in Rome, but look for a restaurant serving Indian food — we went with the Indonesian full body massage. After downing a surprisingly nectary hibiscus drink, we’re led past a row of individual massage rooms, each named and themed after a flower. “A lot of our clients like the fact that they have complete privacy and don’t have to use a common steam room or shower space,” she tells us.

Magic in motion
With a choice of four signature oils, imported from South-East Asia and mixed for proportion by the spa practitioners, we settle for jasmine — apparently the best to ease a worried back. Unlike the veterans with fingers that have worked on many a stubborn back, my masseuse doesn’t regale me with stories of her many years plying her trade. Instead, she tells me that she was inducted into the spa chain as a ‘fresher’ and was trained for four months in over 30 massage techniques at Ananta’s training institute in    T Nagar. “That way, the authenticity of our massages isn’t affected by earlier techniques that they might have learnt. We also build them for long massages extending to 120 minutes. Most of our regulars like that about us,” explains Shruti, who worked in software for half a decade before joining the family spa-wagon. With 11 spas in operation around Chennai presently, they have five more in the pipeline, set to open in the next few months.

Euphoric endings
Either way, 90 minutes into the whole experience, every single sinew between long-haired head and tippy toe was massaged into submission — with the end result that by the time I had to get off the table and shower the aromatic oil off, I was praying that the Balinese euphoria would linger just a little bit longer. 

Rs 1,800 upwards. Details: 42611234 

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