May 2026 · 8 min read · <why everyone deserves a spa dayn class="text-amber-700 font-semibold">Wellness
My mother has spent forty-three years believing that affordable massages at Merakis are a waste of good money and that women of substance simply don't indulge in such frivolities. She landed in Raipur with that very mindset. She left with a completely different story to tell her kitty party group.
The entire thing started as a mild argument over dinner. I had just returned from an incredible hour at Meraki Spa Raipur on Bazar Road, feeling like a new person after a particularly gruelling week at work. My shoulders were light, my mind was quiet, and for the first time in days, I wasn't clenching my jaw. I made the mistake of sharing this feeling with my mother.
"Tchah," she said, stirring her dal with practised dismissal. "Massage? You mean some stranger rubbing oil on you? And you pay them for it? Back in my day, we called that Tuesday. We had work to do. We didn't have time for these new-age fads."
She had a point, in her way. My mother grew up in a household where self-care meant having two minutes of silence between feeding the children and starting the evening chores. The concept of paying someone to make you feel relaxed was, to her, as foreign as a Michelin-star restaurant serving only air. Spas, in her world, were places for rich people who had nothing better to do with their money.
I decided not to argue. Instead, I made a quiet plan. She was staying with me for an entire week. By the end of it, I told myself, she would understand.
Day One: The Arrival and The Old Refrains
Day one was all about settling in. She unpacked her bags — which contained enough food to feed a small battalion — and took stock of my apartment. By evening, she had already rearranged my kitchen cabinets and expressed deep concern about my spice rack organisation. When I mentioned Meraki Spa again, she waved her hand dismissively. "You young people are so delicate. At your age, I used to carry twenty litres of water from the well and then cook for ten people. Nobody gave me a massage."
I let it slide. The week was young.
Day Three: The Cracks Begin to Show
By day three, my mother's body was telling a story her mouth refused to admit. She moved slowly in the mornings, her knees creaking audibly as she got out of bed. I caught her massaging her own shoulders while watching television, her fingers kneading knots that had been there for decades. She complained about neck pain, about lower back stiffness, about the kind of deep, dull ache that comes from a lifetime of standing over stoves, leaning over cradles, and bending over vegetable patches.
"Maa," I said gently, "your body is telling you something."
"My body is old," she retorted. "Nothing to do about it."
But I saw her looking at the brochure I had left on the coffee table — the one from Meraki Spa, with its warm amber tones and pictures of serene treatment rooms. She picked it up once, pretended to read it with disinterest, and put it back down. But she didn't throw it away. That was progress.
Day Five: The Breakthrough
On the fifth day, something shifted. We were sitting on the balcony with our evening chai when she told me about her neighbour in the old colony — a woman her age who had recently started visiting a spa in their town. "She says it helped her arthritis," my mother said, almost grudgingly. "She says she walks better now."
I held my breath and said nothing. I simply pulled out my phone and showed her the Signature Body Scrub + Massage package at Meraki Spa. At ₹1,800, it included a full-body exfoliation with natural scrubs followed by an aromatherapy massage. "This is the one I was telling you about," I said. "It's gentle. It's natural. And it's specifically designed to help with exactly what you're feeling."
She looked at the phone for a long time. Then she looked at her hands — hands that had kneaded dough, washed clothes, held children, and worked without rest for over four decades. "Fine," she said, as if granting a royal pardon. "But I'm going to tell you exactly what I think about it afterwards."
The Visit to Meraki Spa Raipur
The next morning, I drove her to Meraki Spa on Bazar Road, Changurabhata. The entrance itself made her pause — the warm lighting, the soothing music, the scent of essential oils floating through the air. "It smells nice," she admitted, which from her was practically a standing ovation.
The therapist greeted us with a warm smile and offered my mother a glass of herbal tea. My mother looked at the tea, looked at me, and took a sip. She didn't complain. Another small miracle.
The Signature Body Scrub + Massage began with a consultation. The therapist listened carefully as my mother described her specific areas of concern — the lower back that had been troubling her for years, the shoulders that carried decades of tension, the knees that protested every morning. For the first time in this entire week, someone was asking my mother how she felt, and actually listening to the answer.
The scrub itself used natural ingredients — coffee and coconut, if I remember correctly — applied in gentle, circular motions. My mother later described it as "strange but not unpleasant." Then came the massage. The therapist used warm essential oils and a technique that focused on releasing deep-seated tension without being painful. The hour stretched and melted, each minute peeling away another layer of stress.
I waited in the lounge, sipping more of that excellent herbal tea, wondering what my mother's verdict would be. I had booked us a late lunch afterwards, fully prepared for a critique session about how the whole thing was overpriced nonsense.
When she emerged from the treatment room, I almost didn't recognise her. Her face — the same face I had seen every day for three decades — looked different. The tension lines around her mouth had softened. Her eyes, usually sharp and evaluating, were calm. She moved differently, too, as if her body had suddenly remembered what it felt like to be light.
"Beta," she said quietly, "I think I understand now. It's not about being lazy. It's about letting go of everything you've been carrying."
What Changed
Over lunch, my mother talked. She talked about her own mother, who had died at sixty-two without ever knowing what it felt like to have someone take care of her. She talked about her friends in the colony, all of them in their sixties and seventies, all of them in pain, all of them believing it was normal. "We don't know how to receive," she said. "We only know how to give."
The transformation continued throughout the week. She slept better that night — deeply, without the tossing and turning that had become her norm. She moved through her mornings with less stiffness. The next day, she asked me to show her what other treatments Meraki Spa offered.
I showed her everything: the Oil Massage at ₹999, the Deep Tissue at ₹1,499, the Gel Massage at ₹1,699, the Hot Oil Massage at ₹1,199. She was particularly interested in the Four-Hand Oil Massage at ₹1,699, which involves two therapists working in synchronised harmony. "Two people?" she asked, incredulous. "Focusing only on me?"
"Yes, Maa. Two people, all your attention."
She shook her head, but she was smiling.
The Week That Changed Everything
By the end of the week, my mother had become an unlikely evangelist for spa therapy. She called her best friend from the old colony and told her — in great detail — about the Signature Body Scrub + Massage. She announced that I should book her another appointment before she left. She even asked for the Meraki Spa WhatsApp number so she could forward it to her kitty party group.
On her last evening, we sat on the balcony again. The same balcony where, five days earlier, she had dismissed spas as a foolish indulgence. Now she was telling me that she planned to visit a spa in her own town, and could I please find her a good one?
"Maa," I said, "you've changed your tune."
She laughed — a full, genuine laugh that I hadn't heard in years. "I was wrong," she said simply. "There's no shame in this. There's no shame in wanting to feel good in your own body. I spent forty-three years thinking self-care was selfish. But it's not. It's necessary."
If you're reading this and nodding along because you have a mother, an aunt, an older relative who desperately needs to experience what my mother experienced, I have one piece of advice: book the appointment. Don't argue with them. Don't try to convince them with words. Just book it. Let the therapists at Meraki Spa Raipur do what they do best. Let the experience speak for itself.
Meraki Spa is located at Bazar Road, Changurabhata, Raipur, Chhattisgarh 492001. They're open from 11 AM to 9 PM every day, and they hold a stellar 4.8 rating on Google. The Signature Body Scrub + Massage at ₹1,800 changed my mother's life. It might change yours too. You can reach them on WhatsApp at +91 9399075318 to book an appointment or ask questions.
Generations change when we allow ourselves to receive. My mother learned that at sixty-two. It's never too late.
