Oil head bath and Nostalgia....

Oil head bath and Nostalgia....

Among the many luxuries for married Tamil girls visiting their maternal home is getting pampered by a traditional oil head bath, popularly known as "Ennai Techi Kuliyal".

As far as my memory goes my mother used to have the  traditional oil head bath on Fridays. Her head covered with the thin, soft white cotton towel to absorb the water after the bath made her look cosy and homely. My father and male members  used to have the oil bath on Saturday but when we were in school and college it was a part of our Sunday routine. 

I used to detest it as a child and wondered why we needed this routine. However there would be no escape.

Come Sunday my mother would heat sesame oil ( Til oil only as any other oil could never be considered) with black pepper and cloves. My sister and me would then be made to sit on a "palagai", wooden seat for the ritual. It would begin with a generous pouring of the spiced  warm til oil on our heads with a vigorous massage till the oil would drip down to our eyes and perhaps that is what I hated most. Our face, hands and legs would also be rubbed vigorously. We would be asked to soak ourselves in the oil for sometime before proceeding for a bath with "Shikapodi", Shaikakai or Acacia powder, specially powdered  and brought from Chennai. 

My sister who had longer and thicker hair and was susceptible to cold would get the additional luxury of fumes from sambrani powder kept below a straw basket for safety. 

I was able to understand and value the benefits of the traditional oil bath only after I became an adult. It realised that it not only improves one's skin and hair but also gave strength to the  body. 

Off late due to the busy lifestyle, modern hair products and other constraints such traditional luxuries are looked down upon or are limited and come up as an annual routine on Deepawali as the Ganga Snanam or Abhyanga Snanam. 

However every visit to my maternal home on vacation can never be complete without the traditional oil head bath.

I love it more when my "Athai" , paternal aunt pampers me with it. 

She has a special way of beginning the oil massage by remembering the Pancha Kanyas,  Ahalya, Draupadi, Sita,Tara, Mandodari. 

(The names of seven chiranjeevis , Ashwathama, Bali, Vyasa, Hanuman, Vibheeshana, Kripa and Parashurama are normally taken for the men.) 

Traditionally Saturdays and Fridays are considered particularly beneficial for the head oil bath for  males and females respectively.  Such a bath is cannot be taken on  Poornima, Full moon day and Amavasya, New Moon day and or on one’s Nakshatra. 

There are other restrictions too for I remember we would become extremely drowsy after the oil bath but were not allowed to sleep. 

On my visit to Bengaluru to meet Appa, my father, I happily got pampered with the luxurious head oil bath by my Athai who is also there. I felt nostalgic with the smell of Shikakai as I  dried my hair with the thin soft white cotton towel, another typically tamil trait which we learnt from our mother. 

The modern day shampoos and spa looked pale in comparison. 

Shiny skin, glossy lustrous hair and a cool mind after the "Ennai Techi Kuliyal". This is one tradition I hope to pass on to the next generation.