Serenity for the soul!

A spa getaway is the perfect treat for Islamabad’s fatigued elite.

ISLAMABAD:

Back in the 90’s when everyone dressed like an extra on the American sitcom “Friends”, Islamabad’s infamous Shaukat Spa quickly became a veritable hotspot for pool-seekers and spa-enthusiasts alike — it was one of the first of its kind in the capital which, at the time, was commercially under-developed and as Meera would put it, we didn’t even have an Em-Cee-Donalds (McDonald’s)! Chances are that if you’ve grown up in Islamabad and were more than a zygote in the 90s, you probably have a few memories of the spa’s dubious indoor pool and an interior unsuccessfully modelled after a Turkish bath-house. Either that, or a creepy sauna experience at the Marriott.

However, what remains of Shaukat Spa now is a decrepit, chipping sign and a lack of clientele. Swankier joints like Nirvana and the Serena’s Maisha Spa have set up shop — as well as monopolies.

“I can’t even remember the last time I went anywhere else but Nirvana, at least in Islamabad. I get my hair done there as well as manicures and oxygen facials too,” said 21-years-old Anam Butt. “I think I was four or five when I went to Shaukat Spa.”

The spa culture in the metropolis has evolved to cater to the needs of the city’s elite, providing them with the sort of treatments they thought they could only get abroad or at home. So you can’t blame Anam for trading up: burgeoning health spas are offering the sort of smorgasbord of rest and relaxation which would make the poor, crumbling Shaukat Spa keel over. Nirvana’s café-cum-spa-cum-beauty salon combo is a triple threat of ultimate pampering. After getting one’s kinks kneaded out of one’s limbs, a hot stone treatment, or a citrus facial, clients can enjoy a smoothie from Nirvana Café, which attracts its own share of customers.

“Our Swedish massage is the most popular service that we offer,” said Enayat, the receptionist at Nirvana. What is now considered a pretty common treatment at Nirvana would have been construed — back in medieval, health spa-less days — as some sort of exotic, Viking therapy — dangerous and risqué.

Similarly, the colossal and recently-launched Maisha Spa at the Serena serves as a testament to Islamabad’s steadily growing spa trend. The monolith is located on the second, third and fourth floors of the Serena, its labyrinthine halls and candle-lit ambiance stretches to oblivion. They’ve got specifically designed treatment rooms, candle-lit, strewn with petals for ultimate luxury, a hamam, an infinity pool, Vichy showers and an endless list of decadent treatments. This is what people want — the ultimate experience.

“We get too many people, I can’t begin to tell you,” said Maisha’s receptionist, Wajiha, whose workload gradually increases day by day. “Our massages and beauty salon attract a lot of clients, on a daily basis. Also, our pool is usually full from 6 to 11 pm. It’s very busy.”

It’s a clever move, especially for business, to include beauty salons within spas, something both Nirvana and Maisha have done successfully.

To quote Slackistan, a Pakistani film: “Islamabad is the city that always sleeps,” meaning its natural, bucolic milieu has made rest and relaxation a top priority for bored, entertainment-starved Isloo-ites. People in Islamabad show up at spas, perhaps a little too frequently, to forget a miseries at the capable hands of a masseuse or the steady blare of a blow-dry.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 30^th, 2011.