Smell that I Remember

Pictures take you back to your past but have you ever been taken to memory lane by some smell? I do, I always associate smells with things, places and people and that is how smells always become essential part of my memories.

 

 

That smell of rain always reminds me of my childhood rainy days, when we used to play out in rain, and mom used to give us hot and yummy pakodas to eat J. Similarly the smell of wet cloths during rainy season reminds me of afternoon naps, which mom used to force us for whenever it used to rain heavily during afternoons. She will put the half dried cloths inside one room and switch on the fan and that smell of wet cloths used to spread in whole house. She will ask us not to go out and to make sure that we don’t sneak out without telling her, she used to make us sleep with her. Cosy blankets and some random story from mom and after some time we used to be in our dream lands.

 I also associate a different kind of smell with my dad. When he used to come back from work, he used to have little bit of iron kind of smell on him ( he works for a steel company). So that kind of smell always reminds me of my dad.

Mixed smell of pickles and paratha reminds me of my lunch box in school. As I used to hate eating vegetables, mom used to stuff them in paratha and used to give that with pickle for lunch. And when I used to open that box after few hours during Lunch break, it used to give a delicious pickley smell. I also associate some of my relatives with different smells. Like this one aunt of mine was big fan of cobra perfume, whenever she will pass by one can easily identify her with her perfume smell. That was a strong smelling perfume, now also whenever I smell anything similar it always reminds me of my Aunt. Likewise my Nana ji (maternal grandfather) is using a strong smelling hair oil from ages, he used to use that oil so much that even his cloths used to smell same. Smelling that oil or anything similar brings back the fun time I spent with my Nana ji J While talking about smells how can I forget about mentioning the smell of baby powder. These baby powders smell I associate with so many kids in my family. My siblings, cousins they all used to smell same when they where infants and I being the oldest of them all got to see them all as babies and played with all of them. That smell of baby powder is so transferable that once you carry the baby you too start smelling the same J Recently I went to see my sister’s  new born baby and his smell reminded me of all the babies I played with till now :D. I think,  I am already missing him, see how strongly these smells are associated with us and our memories.

I also connect smells with my mood, a nice citrusy smell reminds me of fresh morning and warm vanilla smells reminds me of cold days. Fresh fruity fragrances make me feel young and happy and woody smells make me feel mature. Flowery smells make me feel more feminine and musky smells makes me feel strong. I guess this connection of fragrance with mood decides our liking of different perfumes.  

Smell can be good or it can be bad, they can take us back to good memories or to bad memories but they are integral part of our reminiscences and we can never deny that. I love smelling good and I like my surrounding to smell great too, it uplifts my mood. And when the smell is related to my good memories, I just enjoy the smell and smile for those good old times’ sake J.

 PS: I wrote this post for "AmbiPur smelly to smiley" on Indiblogger.