Who said Orientals don't kiss?
By Aditha Dissanayake
In the eyes of the West, I am an Oriental. I am the Other. I am the Stranger, the Unfamiliar. I live in a world elsewhere, different from the ordinary sentiments and values of the world known to the Self, (the West).

According to Edward Said the West has framed me, the Oriental, into "something one judges (as in a court of law), something one studies and depicts (as in a curriculum), something one disciplines (as in a school or prison), something one illustrates (as in a zoological manual)". (Orientalism Edward Said, New York:Random House, 1978).

I am the mirror image of what is alien to the West. I am "irrational, depraved (fallen), childlike, different" unlike the Westerner who is "rational, virtuous, mature, 'normal". Rudyard Kipling in Kim, shows me as the contrasting image of the West by portraying me as duplicitous and untruthful ("Kim could lie like an Oriental") I am the opposite of the "open-spoken English folk". I am deficient and abnormal ("all hours of the twenty-four are alike to Orientals", "he had all the Oriental's indifference to mere noise").

Yet, for others, for authors like Flaubert, Milton, Marlowe, Shakespeare and Cervantes, I am a dream figure. In their eyes I live in a fabulously rich world filled with half-imagined, half-known monsters, devils, heroes; terrors, pleasures and desires. They associate me with the Sphinx, Cleopatra, the Genii, the Magi and dozens more.

My world is filled with gorgeous colour in contrast to the grayish tonality of the Western provincial landscapes. It is filled with adventures instead of humdrum routine. This is how Flaubert describes its grotesquerie. "To amuse the crowd, Mohammed Ali's jester took a woman in a Cairo Bazaar one day, set her on the counter of a shop, and coupled with her publicly while the shopkeeper calmly smoked his pipe..." (Flaubert in Egypt: A Sensibility on Tour, trans, and ed. Francis Steegmuller (Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1973)

In the mind of the Westerner, my world seems to be always associated with the freedom of licentious sex. To women like Emma Bovary, imprisoned in their drab, bourgeois lives, day dreams of unrestrained sexual experiences come packed inside Oriental cliches; "harems, princesses, princes, slaves, veils, dancing girls and boys, sherbets, ointments, and so on."

Like a pendulum the value the West places on my world, the Orient, swings from one extreme to the other. It is at times over-valued for its pantheism, its spirituality, its stability, its longevity, its primitivity and so forth and at times undervalued for being lamentably under humanized, antidemocratic, backward, barbaric, and so forth.

If Flaubert had come across me today I wonder if he would treat me in the same way he treats Kuchuk Hanem, the Egyptian courtesan who never speaks for herself, who never shows her emotions, presence or history. He speaks for and represents her, for he possesses the facts, which give him the right to dominate her - he is foreign, comparatively wealthy and male. He therefore, not only possesses Kuchuk Hanem physically, but also speaks for her and tells his readers in what way she was "typically Oriental".

For, to the Western mind I would always be "first an Oriental, second a human being, and last again an Oriental".

Moreover, in their eyes I will also, always be seen as an inhabitant of a post-colonial society, who according to Bill Ashcroft, Gareth Griffiths and Helen Tiffin speaks and writes "english" which is different to the English of "the erstwhile imperial centre" - Britain. ("The Empire Writes Back", Routledge, 1989). My English is a "lesser" variant of the Standard English used by the colonizers.

Accordingly when teaching English literature, to students who belong to a post-colonial nation I am expected to come across cultural stumbling blocks not related to science and technology and their by-products, for nowadays everyone knows what a flush toilet is, but blocks to quote Charles Larson, "related to culturally restricted material". Larson, in The American Scholar, 1973 writes that when he began to teach Thomas Hardy to a class of 19-year-old Nigerian boys he had realized "all of (his) students had no real idea of what it meant to kiss". It was much later that he had learnt that "Africans, traditionally at least, do not kiss... Not all peoples kiss".

Neither do Sri Lankans, traditionally at least. But when I began to teach Thomas Hardy to my students who could not have been older than Larson's Nigerian boys, and came across passages where characters got flustered when they were kissed, no student sought my assistance. I was relieved they already had an idea about what it meant to kiss. For, how could I have discussed a Hardy novel with all those kisses if they had kept asking me "What does it mean 'to kiss?'"

Aromatherapy: Not just for beauty but for health
By Ruwanthi Herat Gunaratne
Bergamot, chamo- mile, ylang ylang

and neroli. Exotic names that form the very essence of aromatherapy.

Hidden at the very end of a crowded street in Colombo is an unobtrusive board by the side of a quiet gravel lane. 'The Clinic' is a short walk down. The stairway that leads to it is covered in dry twigs. Heavenly fragrances waft gently down to the entrance. Aromystique, the door proclaims and we've entered 'Aroma Heaven'.

Aromystique is a health and beauty clinic established for the practice of aromatherapy, reflexology and their latest addition, mud therapy. "Aromatherapy is the use of essential oils to promote health and well being of the mind and body," smiles Kishani Gunewardene, a passionate aromatherapist and the owner of Aromystique.

"Essential oils have been used many thousands of years ago, even before the time of the Egyptians, to promote health and well being. Their use dwindled in the 1800s when the civilized world learned how to synthesize medicines."

A qualified accountant by profession, Kishani always wanted to do something different. "An aunt of mine who was working as a nurse in England had obtained a degree in Aromatherapy. And before I knew it, I was in the UK studying for the Body works Certificate at the world's largest school in aromatherapy - Shirley Price, Aromatherapy Ltd, UK."

According to Kishani who completed her two-year course in 1996 it is mainly medical doctors and nurses who are interested in pursuing courses in aromatherapy. "What most fail to understand is the fact that aromatherapy is not only a 'beauty thing'. It is an alternative medicine as well. We had to study subjects such as Anatomy and Physiology in order to obtain our degree."

It was when she got back on completion of the degree that Kishani opened her clinic seven years ago.

Aromatherapy relies heavily on the use of essential oils. But what is an essential oil? Essential oils are extracted from plants by various processes, normally by distilling the plant matter and extracting all the volatile properties. They can be extracted from any type of plant and from different parts of the plant. Eucalyptus, for example, is taken from the leaves whilst ginger is taken off the roots. As each oil is a combination of natural chemicals they are distinctly unique.

In the modern world essential oils are extracted using a method called steam distillation. This method uses steam to extract the oils in the plant and after careful condensation lets it mix with water. It depends on the density of the oil extracted as to whether it will float on water or sink after condensation.

"It is a highly concentrated oil which consists of chemicals such as phenols and alcohols that are the result," says Kishani, "Most often, the constitution of the oil is then changed and the oils are used in the food and perfume industry." But what Kishani found during the course of her studies is that essential oils were also a part of the treatment offered in Maternity and Children's Wards in Hospitals. "And that is due to their therapeutic effect."

This therapeutic effect relies on the purity of the essential oil. Synthetic substances are generally quite successful for cookery and perfumery, but it cannot be stressed enough that for the purpose of aromatherapy only the best and purest essential oils will give the desired effect. "Obtaining a pure unadulterated quality oil is an expensive process. 100 kgs of eucalyptus yields about 4 litres of oil while 100 kgs of rose petals would yield only 20ml of oil."

It is through entering the body that the oils can help. "The universal method is that of inhalation. Essential oils vaporize readily and can therefore enter the body via the air through the nose and the bronchial passage. Adding a few drops of essential oil to a tissue or to a bowl of water releases the vapour, which is then inhaled." An aroma can have an immediate effect on the mind and the body. "The faster the stimuli can reach the brain, the faster the effect will take place. This method is ideal for those suffering from coughs, congestion and sinusitis."

Another method of use is by a bath. Here 6-7 drops of the required oil or required blend of oils is added into a warm water bath.

But the most well known of aromatherapy techniques is that of massage. What must be understood is that the key factor of an aromatherapy massage is the use of the correct bland of oils that would suit each individual"

Body massage movements can vary from light feathery strokes designed to relax the muscles and nerves to heavy pounding and kneading designed to break up fatty areas. An essential oil is massaged onto any part of the body in a blended form. "This is due to the high concentration of the oils when they are being stored in their respective bottles." As each molecule of essential oil is very small, they enter the body through the skin to give the desired effect.

Before each treatment, Kishani insists on having a brief chat with the client. "The beauty of aromatherapy lies in the fact that each person is treated using a blend or mix of oils made especially for her. Therefore I conduct a short question and answer session where I can gauge what physical or mental aspect of the client should be concentrated on." This begins with a lifestyle and medical analysis. Once that is completed Kishani moves on to the reflexology test. "Reflexology is an ancient Chinese therapy with a modern American name," says Kishani. It is based on the principle that all our organs are represented at various points, and connected through energy lines on our feet. When pressure is applied one can identify the points of disorder on a client.

The method cannot specifically provide for the disorder, but will give the aromatherapist a foundation with which to work on. Treatments vary according to the needs of the client. The Clinic is open only to ladies.

Isn't aromatherapy addictive? "No," smiles Kishani. "Essential oils comprise of energetic natural chemicals such as turpines, alcohols, ketones and phenols. This composition keeps changing depending on the needs of the body. The needs of the body too keep changing. Therefore one cannot get addicted to a specific oil. The blend that I'd use on you today would be different to the one I'd use on you next month."

At the moment it's mostly ladies in their late 30s and early 40s who visit the clinic on a regular basis. "Aromatherapy offers a range of natural remedies that will help soothe and ease discomforts suffered during pregnancy. Another treatment that we have now introduced is aromatherapy for children, to alleviate common childhood ailments."

Any other plans in the pipeline? "I've started workshops during the weekends to introduce people to aromatherapy and to teach self-help and family remedies," says Kishani. "There's also a three-month course in aromatherapy and health."

Can you practise aromatherapy on a daily basis? 'Definitely, I use it to cure myself of every ailment. Be it a headache or stress. The most important element is never to compromise on quality and purchase the best oils available." (See box for suggested oils)

Kishani has also introduced "Mud Therapy" to the Clinic. The products for mud therapy are obtained from the Neydharting Moor in Austria. As a 100% herbal substance it works in an extremely natural and gentle way to first cleanse, heal and finally strengthen the body.

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