Thursday, March 17, 2005

on smells

on smells........
to me smells are very tied in to memories
sometimes new smells bring back old memories
the smell of a bazaar - cilantro, radish, mint
or fresh jasmine and roses...
the streets here are filled with the scent of cherry blossoms
a whiff of it when you take a walk in the evening
and smells bring back memories of people too

in my childhood i remember this particular lady who i used to identify by smell....i found her a bit annoying so I unconsciously associated the smell as an annoying smell. I have no way to describe it - it was just the jayanagar mami smell. It took years of therapy before (no no just kidding)...the smell itself was not annoying, but every time I had a whiff of it, I still remember the lady who tortured me in my childhood :)

when we visited eze, a small village in france, i learnt something about the 'nose'. This is the person who creates perfumes. S/He has over 5 to 7 years of training as an apprentice. S/He can usually distinguish atleast 3000 different smells....starting off with about 300 and then slowly building up! There are only about 40 or 50 'noses' in the world. (most of them in france :0) These people have to lead a life of rigor, no spicy food, no alchohol - so as to not dull their senses. They get paid well too.