Smelly Memories

Good or bad, smell makes memories

Home and Smell:

When I was a kid I used to go on a vacation to relatives’ places for a month or so. When I return back everything at home used to seem different to me; the stairs will look steeper, colour of the building might look brighter. Something would have changed and some might not have but I always took one or two days to get back to normal and feel at home. Those were the times when I realized the smells and sounds that made the house my home.

The way the door gets knocked, the ceiling fan sound, the repaired fan’s sound, the tv volume, the birds humming around the house, the noise that the fridge gives if left open and the other minute noises makes us exactly identify our house even if our eyes are tied.

Same is with smells; different smells or fragrances of different location in our house get stored in our subconscious brain. We realize it only when we return back home after missing it so much. What we call the smell of the house is not that of the bricks or cement it’s made of but people who live in and their day to day activities. The smell of agarbatti used, regular floor cleaner used, soaps, perfumes, food that’s prepared and other day to day activities constitutes to the smell of the house. I have so many memories linked to the way my house smelled at different points of time.

Let me spray some smelly memories around so that the fragrance of it reaches you.

Smelly new born sister:

My sister was born when I was a five year old kid. She was so precious to me as I longed to have a baby sister for a long time then. The smell of the house when you have a new born baby in it is just priceless. The bed used to hold dad, mom, baby sister and then me in the order mentioned. Houses with new born kids will always have a rubber sheet on top of the bed spread to avoid the bed getting wet from the urine of the baby. The regular rubber sheets are orange in one side and green on the other; they all smell the same- rubberish, rubbish. I used to hate this smell at first but then I slowly started liking it as that smell marked the boundary where my baby sister could play.

Those pink feet, soft palms with tiny fingers and sharp nails, soft and short hair, those blinks and stares she used to give me; the pink smiles that just showed the gums naked without a tooth; the image of my cute baby sister is still etched in my memories. Maybe because that was the only time when we did not fight over clothes or pull each other’s hair for no good reasons.

The smell of babies are different at different times in a day but all of it are awesome.

Mornings: She used to bed wet the whole night leaving the whole room to stink of her urine. I had the habit of rolling over in sleep. I used to roll close to her on the rubber sheet and get my dress wet of her watery work on it. When I wake up I used to smell of the watery thingy till I finish my coffee and take a bath. But I had never hated her for it though I hated the smell of it.

After a wash: The way kids look and smell after a hot water bath is something only a parent or a sibling can understand. I used to readily sit near the cushion on which mom places her to dress her up before she is brought out of the bathroom. I used to keep sniffing the kid when my grandma used to scold me not to do it too much and warn me saying that the kid might fall sick if I admired too much. I have no idea if that sweet fragrance is from the body of the baby or the products used on it but I used to enjoy it a lot.

The way the whole house used to smell of the baby was something I always longed for after she grew up.

Fragrance and Grandma:

We easily say it’s our grandma, who had taken bath, from where we are seated. The fragrance that spreads around when she completes her bath and dresses herself up used to make us run around her. The AXE Effect ads in the recent times exactly shows how we, as kids, used to run around her for how good she smelled and to tease her as she never lets us touch her till we take a bath. She uses Mysore sandal soap and powder even today. The moment the bathroom door opens after her bath, the whole house will be refreshed with the sandal smell. The moment we enter the room she used to dress herself the whole room will smell of sandal which will make our day pleasant. Even at the age of 80 the importance she gives to personal hygiene and self odor inspires us. I bet none of us can be as neatly dressed and clean at the age of 82.

Smell of Vadam Paste:

The smell of grandma’s Vadam paste still makes me drool. This paste is made from rice flour, lemon, green chilly and salt. This is made only in summers during specific months when they dry it on the terrace. I love this paste and I beg grandma every time to keep one full bowl for me to consume raw. Grandma never informs me the previous day just to surprise me the next day when I wake up. She gets up early whenever she makes this and mostly it’s a Sunday. Usually even if people pour water on my head I never wake up before 10 am but on these vadam paste days the smell of it will make me wide awake early in the morning.

Smell of love:

Every person has a peculiar smell. We discover it when we love them the most and when we focus all our concentration on that person when we are with them. Recently I discovered love and hence the unique smell theory. I am not sure if it is true or not but I believe that a girl in love can discover her guy just with his smell. I can discover my love just with his smell. So I am happy that this smell will add to the smell of my home soon. 

Smell is a really good thing and it defines people and places. So smell good and make your home smell good too.

 Smell and Jerry:

I thought my article about smells wont be complete without mentioning about Tom and Jerry. When i talk about smell and nostalgia the first thing that came to my mind was Tom and Jerry. The way Tom and Jerry find the cheese with the smell of it fascinated me as a kid. Jerry sniffs and follows the smell to spot the cheese; I loved imitating Jerry back then. I used to wonder how nice it would be if we could see the smell like shown in the cartoon. Then I used to console myself that we cant see smell because we are not cartoons.

This post is written as a part of the indiblogger contest http://www.indiblogger.in/topic.php?topic=85

Conducted by AmbiPur India www.facebook.com/AmbiPurIndia