Right from when we are children, we start associating with fragrance..... wo mummy ki khooshboo ...... purane ghar wali khushboo...
Even before I open my eyes in bed I can recognise my mom from the beautiful fragrance of mogra flowers in her pony and my dad from his old navy aftershave.
I have a very medical condition (according to my parents) that I can not wake up on my own, not even with alarm, my parents have to wake me up, and their smell is the first smells I breathe in every morning. :)
I start feeling restless if I have to go away for even few days. Even when I can video call them there is something missing ...... and that is their smell.
Our purana ghar is some 30 kms from city and has gardens in three directions from that small house, we have flowers , vegetables and different kinds of fruits growing in those gardens. I have not been to our purana ghar for 8 years now, one thing that I remember very prominently of that house is the variety of fragrances that embraces you at different hour of the day, in different seasons.
In summers fragrance of mango and chillis, in rainy season it was green vegetables, and the best season to be there is winters; season of flowers <3 .... roses, mogra, raat rani, and one more white flower with thick leaves I can't remember its name at the moment were my ba's ( my great grandfather) favourite ones.
This summer I went to phal baag ( that is fruit garden of our city ) and the mixed fruit smell there reminded me so much of our purana ghar.
And then the smell of my beloved baba ( my grand father ), he never used any deo or perfume, all he used other than soap was neem leaves in his bathing water. I have never slept with my parents right from my childhood ( I mean from as long as I remember), I have always slept between my dadi and baba till the time I got my own room and after that whenever I was scared at night of anything. I still remember his smell, just by that smell I use to forget any bothering thought and I miss that smell every time I want to hug his and complaint about my parents.... I use to go to my baba with my parent's complaint for all others I go to my parents.
With photographs we generally associate a particular memory but with smells we associate our loved ones or a place, we have hundreds of memories with. Just by a particular smell a complete film of nostalgic memories starts rolling in our mind.
PS: The post is an entry for a contest by AmbiPurIndia
Even before I open my eyes in bed I can recognise my mom from the beautiful fragrance of mogra flowers in her pony and my dad from his old navy aftershave.
I have a very medical condition (according to my parents) that I can not wake up on my own, not even with alarm, my parents have to wake me up, and their smell is the first smells I breathe in every morning. :)
I start feeling restless if I have to go away for even few days. Even when I can video call them there is something missing ...... and that is their smell.
Our purana ghar is some 30 kms from city and has gardens in three directions from that small house, we have flowers , vegetables and different kinds of fruits growing in those gardens. I have not been to our purana ghar for 8 years now, one thing that I remember very prominently of that house is the variety of fragrances that embraces you at different hour of the day, in different seasons.
In summers fragrance of mango and chillis, in rainy season it was green vegetables, and the best season to be there is winters; season of flowers <3 .... roses, mogra, raat rani, and one more white flower with thick leaves I can't remember its name at the moment were my ba's ( my great grandfather) favourite ones.
This summer I went to phal baag ( that is fruit garden of our city ) and the mixed fruit smell there reminded me so much of our purana ghar.
And then the smell of my beloved baba ( my grand father ), he never used any deo or perfume, all he used other than soap was neem leaves in his bathing water. I have never slept with my parents right from my childhood ( I mean from as long as I remember), I have always slept between my dadi and baba till the time I got my own room and after that whenever I was scared at night of anything. I still remember his smell, just by that smell I use to forget any bothering thought and I miss that smell every time I want to hug his and complaint about my parents.... I use to go to my baba with my parent's complaint for all others I go to my parents.
With photographs we generally associate a particular memory but with smells we associate our loved ones or a place, we have hundreds of memories with. Just by a particular smell a complete film of nostalgic memories starts rolling in our mind.
PS: The post is an entry for a contest by AmbiPurIndia
Beautifully written and I love the photographs. :)
ReplyDeleteIts a very well written post Salomi! :) The photographs got me all nostalgic.. indeed a vintage photograph in front of the great wheel of Konark is a must-have for every family.. thank you for sharing them here!
ReplyDelete