Usha
I love towels - soft, fluffy,nice smelling towels. If they have a nice colour and prints even better.
I think the room rent in expensive hotels is completely justified just for the nice towels they stock. After all they must care a lot for the guest if they took such care with their towels and stocked them in different sizes, all clean and nicely folded. On checking in, some people check the view, some see if the aircon and TV work fine but I check the towels.If they are there, the more the better, and clean I fell comfortable and happy. Having a towel monogrammed with your initials - an ultimate sign that you have arrived. Burying your face in a thick fluffy towel smelling of detergent and warm from Sun drying - oh, Nirvana of sorts!

The pleasure of a nice warm bath can be completely ruined if the towel that comes at the end is not perfect - if it is damp or rough or too small. Or if it is the plain cotton functional towel that gets completely soaked with one rub leaving you totally cold. They are alright for wrapping around wet hair but not for the body. I keep a towel or two handy in my box just in case. I dont know much about the history of Turkey but I want to visit the place because I think the people who invented the turkish towels must have a great civilisation.

Whenever I am in big supermarkets in India or anywhere, the towels section is the one where you can find me. I can claim to have checked out the towels in about 12 countries around the world. In case this seems bizarre to any of you and if you are probably one of those who consider Them "just Towels", which are nothing but a piece of cloth to dry, I feel nothing but pity for you. I direct you to the following passage on the uses of a towel by my favorite writer Douglas Adams. Perhaps that might help dispel your ignorance and make you appreciate their value better!

"The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy has a few things to say on the subject of towels. A towel, it says, is about the most massively useful thing an Interstellar Hitchhiker can have. Partly it has great practical value—you can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble-sanded beaches of Santraginus V, inhaling the heady sea vapours; you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of Kakrafoon; use it to sail a mini raft down the slow heavy river Moth; wet it for use in hand-to-hand combat; wrap it round your head to ward off noxious fumes or to avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (a mindboggingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can't see it, it can't see you—daft as a brush, but very, very ravenous); you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough. More importantly, a towel has immense psychological value. For some reason, if a strag [non-hitch hiker] discovers that a hitchhiker has his towel with him, he will automatically assume that he is also in possession of a toothbrush, face flannel, soap, tin of biscuits, flask, compass, map, ball of string, gnat spray, wet weather gear, space suit etc., etc. Furthermore, the strag will then happily lend the hitchhiker any of these or a dozen other items that the hitchhiker might accidentally have 'lost'. What the strag will think is that any man who can hitch the length and breadth of the galaxy, rough it, slum it, struggle against terrible odds, win through, and still knows where his towel is, is clearly a man to be reckoned with."
(Douglas Adams.The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy)

On the day when the spaceship comes I will be ready to wave it down and hitch a ride as well as handle the perils during an intergalactic trip with my specially chosen towel. Will you be?

P.s: did you know that there is a day devoted for Towels - the Towel day? yes, and it is the 25th of May!
22 Responses
  1. Mahadevan Says:

    Fine smelling, fluffy pastel coloured towels lend charm and dignity and enhance the beauty of any bath room. I am not normally given to luxuries. But I always yearn and strive for a star hotel style bath room though am not always successful. I fully agree with you that the Star hotels deserve to charge a higher tariff for the manner in which they maintain their towels and linen.

    Towels have to be maintained and held in a dignified way and perhaps, that is why throwing the towel is defined as a sign of surrender.


  2. Thenraj Says:

    oh..i an ordinary towel these much things are there!! i dont know that..anyway nice post and blog.


  3. rads Says:

    haha, nice :-)

    So you've upgraded the blog as well? Goody, though I somehow feel that the earlier template suited you. *please don't ask me what that means :-)) *


  4. blog looks better already :)
    you know what i check out the first time in a hotel room - the bathroom :) I dont know why - its just a fetish...
    And its sooo true - a good bath can be ruined by a bath towel.
    Handy Tip of the Day (from me no less) : If you love the smell of freshly washed towels - just 5 mins before your bath - run the towel in the dryer - 5 mins is adequate - you will get a soft, fluffy, fresh smelling towel - everytime you bathe.


  5. Deeps Says:

    :). I like mine very fluffy and luxurious. I can't use the cotton ones at all. My hubby is plain opposite to me, he doesn't like anything other than his cotton towels :).

    I also love Doughlas Adams's "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy". He certainly knows what he's talking about ;-).


  6. finally a post that is not about 2006 or 2007.....just about everyone is doing a "reflection on the year that was" kind of post. What's wrong with that...well, nothing but it makes me want to think about my own year or the one ahead and I am not ready for it, yet...ok I digress let's get back to towels, now I am lost!!1...what about them? let me read your post again....


  7. Ardra Says:

    Hi Usha! finally caught up with u'r posts- my pc has been acting up a lot lately- the serviceman was fed up with my calls...now it seems ok...


  8. Artnavy Says:

    I think I love this look and the post matches it. Regularly, I am a very cotton thin but large towel person but love WHITE fluffy turkey towels as well as long as I do not need to maintian them myself

    Can't you revert to the old look when you write more serious posts?

    I will know what to expect. Or you would prefer to leave me guessing


  9. Usha Says:

    Mahadevan: Yes a towel is as dignified as an angavastram in our south Indian traditional attire! Imagine how useful it was - to look dignified, to wipe vetalai, to reserve a place, to hide behind while drinking coffee during a performance!!

    Thenraj:Thanks.

    Rads:You know what I liked the earlier template too but have completely forgotten what it looked like! So I am ona trial and error trip until I can find a new one that suits me!

    STS: Yes, I check the bathroom too. Would rather stay on the road than stay in a room with a bad bathroom. That is a very useful tip Id love to try it but guess what my machine has no dryer as I love my clothes sun dried and it is no problem where I live.

    Deeps;So will you be observing Towel Day on may 25th?

    Orchid:Ah the year end. Thats the joy when you get to my age - a year or two this way or that way makes no difference. Yes, coming back to towels, tell me what you think...

    Ardra: Happens, with machines, all the time. Good you are back in circulation.

    Art: Guess what, I am trying out all possible templates until I can find one I am happy with. A template for all moods!


  10. i love the huge fluffy ones that wrap around u so well and ahem make u feel sexy at the same time for whatever it's worth. so nice but so impracticle- difficult to wash & dry
    there is a store in khader nawaz khan road, chennai called towliya (towel).


  11. Anonymous Says:

    Such history behind an oft taken-for-granted little thing.. there's an Istanbul cafe a block from my apartment, I'll ask them about Turkish towels.. :)


  12. Aqua Says:

    i LOVE this new look...and blue is my favourite colour!

    and ditto on your post! i love fluffy nice smelling towels too!

    let me also wish you a very merry xmas and a happy new year!!!!


  13. Chitra Says:

    Nice post. I am not very passionate about my towels. :) I do however think that the thinner cotton ones dry you faster than the fluffy turkish towels. The fluffier ones never seem to get all the water off. Am I using them wrong? ;)

    The last three posts of yours have all had a differnet look to them. Wonder how your blog will look for your next post. This is fun! :)


  14. Hip Grandma Says:

    I love the look of your blog.About towels,I must admit that I use the thin ones and find them easy to launder.Turkish towel are okay as long as someone else does the washing.


  15. rads Says:

    ooo, this is a strong blue personality I see. Nice personal touch with the kolams :)

    Looks like someone's having a blast with the template settings ;-))


  16. S! Says:

    Not about your post, but more on your template. We all know how the empire encourages personal expression & it is generally understood that senior officers do not pull rank at the slightest chance, but I'm afraid yours is a boderline case, lootenant.

    Very borderline, indeed.


  17. Usha Says:

    ITW: I know I get lectured on the impracticality all the time and so during the rainy season I use an ordinary towel for the rub and the turkish for the wrap.
    In Jan I am in chennai for a few hours - Towliya is certainly on the list now. Thanks.

    Kishore: oh please do.Or check out:
    http://www.turkeyforyou.com/travel_turkey_turkish_towels

    Aqua:Thank you.Have a great year ahead.

    Chitra:It doesnt dry immediately - you have to wrap it around and soak in the comfort for a while by which time it absorbs the moisture. And the whole idea is not to dry you completely which isnt good for the skin.
    I am getting hooked to these changes too - hope I can settle down soon. hehehe

    HipG: Yes, it is a little high meaintenance but one indulgence I allow myself.

    Rads:Yes, freaking out. Actually I am more of a light blue personality than the strong one do not know how to change the colour.

    S!:That it does not meet with your unconditional approval is evident captain - I am endeavouring to improve upon it.


  18. Anonymous Says:

    oooooo man..!! Its really difficult work that we are doing!! But then, today I was just showing this to my mom and was telling I need all these costumes if I need to cut onions :)


  19. Usha Says:

    Janitri: Ah you meant the earlier post! good idea!


  20. passerby55 Says:

    Hi

    You have painted your space BLUE.It feels good, like one feels in an ocean.

    The previous template was yellow and a grey combination. Rare indeed.

    Towels! I love turkish ones. They are soft and cosy, But i never use them on rainy daye, They refuse to dry faster and then there is always short of space to dry my other clothess.

    I love those towels with mickey mouse or donald duck printed on them.They look cute on small kids.

    "The pleasure of a nice warm bath can be completely ruined if the towel that comes at the end is not perfect...."
    USha, I totally agree with this.

    thankyou.


  21. Usha Says:

    Passerby: I love the colour blue too.
    I love those cartton character on towels espec`ially when they are wrapped around kids!


  22. WhatsInAName Says:

    wow usha!
    There cannot be a truer fetish!

    and incidentally my nieces birthday falls on May 25th!!! Will update her!!!

    BTW, did you know even Karan Johars birthday falls on 25th may!!!