Don’t have water for a bath? Take steam

The weather of Delhi may be poles apart from that of sub-zero temperature Nordic countries but the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) has decided to promote a Finnish pastime among people living in areas under it. Hamari Jamatia reports.

The weather of Delhi may be poles apart from that of sub-zero temperature Nordic countries but the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) has decided to promote a Finnish pastime among people living in areas under it.

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A first for NDMC, the civic body is building a steam sauna bath at a sports centre being constructed at Laxmi Bai Nagar.

A sauna is a small room designed as a place to experience dry or wet heat sessions. Users sit in a room filled with steam so that they can sweat the stress out of their bodies and relax.

Cynics may argue that the frequent power cuts in the city are providing the same experience to the citizens for free but NDMC officials claim that there is a popular demand for sauna.

"It's a new kind of facility that we are going to provide to the people. It will not be free," said Amit Prasad, Director (Public Relations), NDMC. The two-storey building is still under construction and will take about two months to be completed. It will cost about Rs 2 crore.

Apart from the sauna, it will also have billiards, snooker, table tennis, squash and gym facilities. "After playing or working out people like to relax with a sauna or a bath, for which we have constructed separate bathrooms," said one of the project supervisors.

There will be two sauna rooms, one for men and the other for women. NDMC officials said finding adequate water to generate steam will not be an issue.

"On an average about 100 litres of water per day will be sufficient to keep the two rooms running. Steam saunas do not consume much electricity or water," said an official.