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| O yes, they never do |
I slipped inside my car and submitted
myself to the fragrance of Ambi Pur India’s sample which I had received
recently. A seductive aroma assaulted me, completely overwhelming my senses and
leaving me in a state of stupor. I couldn’t say for sure whether the fragrance
reminded me of a farm-fresh fruit or of the lavender or of the smell of the
first rain or of the beaches of Thailand. I was too much dazed to take note of
such mundane matters. It was a moment in which I simply had to let go; a moment
which deserved to be cherished and relished.
As I reclined on the seat further and
steered towards a bucolic bylane to drive at a leisure pace, an army of
reminiscences crossed the border of time to launch missiles of nostalgia at me.
I was drifting into another world…a world
of happy-sad moments….a world of happy-sad memories….a world of happy-sad
fragrances………I was drifting….away away away I went....
“Ritesh
aao baitho yahan. Tel lagaane do.”
My hair still smells of warm coconut oil,
even though I have quit applying it a long time back. But I doubt if my hairs
will ever let go of its fragrance completely. Nourishing my scalp with the
generous dose of coconut oil was a daily ritual for my mother, one which she
performed dutifully and unfailingly during my entire years of childhood and
adolescence. It may appear a trivial thing for a casual reader, but the care
and concern which were reflected during those small prosaic routines are apt
testimonies of an ideal mother-child relationship. Some youths of today may be
fawning after the western ideologies. But personally, I take intense pride on
being born to an Indian mother.
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| Me and my mom on my 1st birthday |
It is a cliché but one cannot meander on to
the topic of smells and leave out the aroma of the rain-drenched soil. When the
heaven cries, the earth rises up in perfumes to console its adversary.
Even when the sweeper of my building would
splash water on the dry stairs for his periodic washing, that utterly delicious
smell would make me go crazy. I call it ‘delicious’ coz during those moments I
would feel a strong urge to eat mud or cement or soil or earth (call it whatever).
I would often scrape off the wallpaper at my home and slurp those tasty
cements. I still feel the urge, though I have given up on this habit.
PS- I once learnt that such a habit is a
sign of calcium deficiency. However, I am not sure how this thing works.
PPS- By the way, those cemented stuffs are
indeed delicious. Who cares for what medical science says about Calcium
deficiency and blah blah. I would even bite into the earthern cups (‘bhaand’ or
‘kulhaar’) in which the chai-wallahs or ganna-wallahs (sugarcane vendors) used
to serve tea and sugarcane juice.
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| Courtesy: Google images |
Memories and smell go hand in hand:
Your memory is greatly influenced by what
you are smelling at. It is something which even the scientific community
doesn’t deny. Contrary to what you think, our memories are not independent. In
fact, they are vulnerable and are often affected by various factors including
that of smell.
Which smell can evoke your favorite memory
is actually a matter of serendipitous discovery? You can try smelling the rain
or the rose, you can try walking past the breezy lake or sniff at the ‘aamras’
(mango juice), you can glance at the old lozenge shop or peep into the kitchen.
Who knows where your favorite memory lies….
quietly, clandestinely, waiting to be discovered, waiting to be smelt…………..
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| My Darjeeling sojourn: A personal favorite memory |
A magical trick you MUST try:
To the less informed, I would say ‘Never
underestimate the power of smell’. I once read in some educational column that
a potato, an onion and an apple taste the same. All three are sugar-based
products and they taste exactly the same. It is just their varying smells which
make a fool out of us, making us resent one and love the other.
The simple trick to verify this fact is-
clutch your nose shut before putting a slice of a potato, onion and apple into
your mouth. Now, try to distinguish between them. You would be surprised that
all 3 would seem identical to your taste buds ;)
Yup, I even tried that once myself and was
pretty amazed.
What JK Rowling never revealed:
Albus Dumbledore always gave a boost to
Harry’s sagging confidence by suggesting intriguingly that you have a power
which Voldemort will never understand.
Harry fooled himself throughout his life by
believing that this was the ‘power of love’.
But no, Dumbledore lied to him.
Nah, actually, it was the power of smell. ;)
[This post has been written for AmbiPur India, the leading supplier of car perfumes of a huge assortment of aromas. If your car doesn't smell the way you want it to smell and fails to elicit happy memories from the past, then you are recommended to install a car perfume which can make the air inside the car extremely aromatic.
You do not have to overspend in order to inject that magical ambience in your four-wheeler. You can buy a 7-ml pack for a price as low as Rs 145. Prices vary depending on the flavor. The most popular one is the 'Ambi Pur Car Aqua Air Freshener Starter'. It can be bought from sites like Flipkart at Rs 229 here.
.JPG)
