(Top) A lady inhales pure oxygen in a Tokyo bar, model Panchali Gupta unwinds in the oxygen bar in the city

Jan. 18: Oasis, the region’s first oxygen bar, has opened its doors to the residents of the city.

Kamrup deputy commissioner (metro) A.K. Absar Hazarika inaugurated the shop selling pure and unadulterated O2 at a city hotel today.

The oxygen bar also has a cyber café adjacent to it. “Visitors can surf the net while they wait to get a whiff of flavoured oxygen which promises to be a recreational experience for stressed and exhausted souls,” said Rajendra Kumar Agarwal, the brain behind Oasis.

The elixir of life will, however, come at a price. A patron will have to shell out Rs 150 for a 20-minute session of inhaling 90 to 95 per cent oxygen laced with natural aromas and soothing music. The parlour, which will open initially with two bar recliners, will expand in tune with the response it gets.

“Patrons can gas up on pure or flavoured oxygen for recharging themselves. Twenty minutes is mandatory or else people will not really feel the effect. One can, of course, also opt up to 30 minutes of inhalation per day,” Agarwal said.

During 20 minutes one can breathe in pure 90 to 95 per cent oxygen blended with aromas ranging from lemon, orange, jasmine, rosemary, eucalyptus, basil, peppermint, lavender and ylang ylang, which assures positive effects for many maladies. The accompanying soothing music will aid relaxation.

“Pure oxygen can replenish body’s energy levels, improve hair and skin conditions, filter toxins from the blood, reduce stress, fatigue and headaches, apart from being a proven hangover remedy,” Agarwal added.

He, however, cautioned that pregnant women or those with high blood pressure would not be able to inhale aroma oxygen.

Oxygen bars, invented in Japan in the fifties to cure traffic policemen who were knocked out by the toxic fumes emitting from vehicles and other machinery, help detoxify the accumulation of carbon dioxide in the bloodstream. The Japanese innovation has caught the imagination of the world with many industrialised countries setting up such bars for the workmen to sniff pure oxygen whenever nausea overcame their senses.

The bars soon became a fad among the hip crowd, giving a few ingenious entrepreneurs the chance to spin money out of thin air. Oxygen bars were opened for the public, owing to the urban environmental degradation, and the concept did not take many years to reach Assam.

In the country, the concept scored a six when Sachin Tendulkar opened an oxygen bar for a “revitalising” experience in his restaurant, Tendulkar’s, in Mumbai.

Admitting that the pollution level in Guwahati was not as high as in other cities of the country, Agarwal said the world-wide oxygen concentration in ambient air has fallen to approximately 22 per cent. “Oxygen bars can give up to 95 per cent of pure air, which is vital for a body's rejuvenation.”

Oasis will be a typical “up the nose” parlour with oxygen generators, nose hoses and oxygen safe aromas. It plans to tie up with companies and admit individual members who will be entitled to special schemes.