Massage No Boom Boom

Anand Prabhu, author of Massage No Boom Boom,  talks to Hiren Kumar Bose on why getting a massage should be a right of every Indian

You say India was the birthplace of massage but it is countries like Thailand and Indonesia that have a made an industry out of it. How did that happen?

I think it is the moral confusion that has resulted from the British rule, Victorian morality and British laws that enforce and enshrine Victorian morality, and the series of invasions that made India lose its self-confidence. Modern life in India results in high levels of stress. Why don’t we have thousands of massage parlors everywhere, out in the open? It would make us a far more relaxed and tolerant nation. I have feeling that much of our anger and violence proceeds from our repression.

A massage aficionado, do tell us about the variety of massages and the country which offers the most and the best experiences.

As far as my experience goes, if you’re on a budget, or if you wish to get the best value for your money, Thailand offers massages starting from as little as three dollars an hour to $ 50 or 100 an hour, with various combinations (a simultaneous massage by multiple masseuses, sex, oral sex, sandwich massages, and so on) and prices in between.  Indonesia, especially the island of Bali, is quite close, and may even be competitive—though the sexual component is far more open in Thailand than in Indonesia. If you have deep pockets, though, anything you want is available in places like New York, London, and Singapore.

Massage parlour is a bad word in India. Why is it so?

How many of our Ministers and other powerful people, when they visit Thailand on official business or for some conference, do you think do not order a masseuse to their rooms? They would be crazy not to experience the pleasure that is available? In which case, why should people have to pay so much to get this pleasure? Why, in a country that is supposed to have a Constitution that promises equality and an egalitarian society, should these pleasures and healthful necessities be restricted to a privileged few?

What next? An erotic novel.

Yes indeed. I have one in progress, and hope to have it ready in four to six months. Why is it that 50 million women in the West have read the erotic trilogy 50 Shades of Grey, but that we pretend to be uninterested? This hypocrisy is highly oppressive, and it is an unnecessary oppression of self. Thai and Chinese cultures have absolutely no guilt about sex; on the contrary, the greater your libido, the higher the respect in which you are held.

Massage No Boom Boom, Anand Prabhu, Harper Collins