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My Sniff Happy "Smelly - Smiley" Memories
I am a dog!
Yes,
you heard me right! I am not talking about loyalty quotient but the reference
here is purely stinky and smelly!
I am a dog and I have a strong sense of smell. Needless to say, I can smell foul early and cannot stand the bad odor. I go around sniffing good fragrance sniff-sniff. Anythiong that is good for me has to smell good. So one day when Indiblogger and Ambipur asked me to share my memories associated with different smells and fragrance at home, I couldn't help but went sniffling down the nostalgic lane and here's presenting my list of 7 smelly-smiley memories from my home-
The Family that prays together, stays together. Every morning my granny who was the head of family would get get up, bath and perform pooja (worship). Her rituals were exhaustive starting from cleaning off the previous day's flower, incense from idols to grinding Sandal on stone, picking flowers from gardens, decorating God's with new dress, flowers, Sandal Tilaks, lite incense diyas and dhoops with camphor to sing aarti (hymn) and all. The scent of desi ghee, camphor, fresh flowers, pure chandan and incense used to lace our lazy mornings with divinity, spirituality and new vigor.
The Sniff of Hawan: Doing Hawan is a sacred rituals as performed by Hindus. My granny used to follow this ritual twice a week i.e. on Tuesday & Saturday evenings. Her hawan used to be a small metal container where she would add different sacred ingredient along with wood and fire. The ingredients that she used were out of world and divine in smell. I was really fascinated by the fragrance of it so much that she would pour them more and ask to sit closely and indulge in the holy aroma. Such was the spell of it that whole of our mid porch and house would bathe in it smoky transcendence and purify itself.
Oiling the hair and body was a daily ritual at my granny's home. I was
blessed to have her love in form of this daily practice. Every day, my granny
post all morning activities and post breakfast would spend her time with me at
front Veranda. Off course on school days. She will oil my hair with coconut
oil, make a braid and apply cream/oil over my exposed body part to shield away
the winter dryness. Those memories still lingers in my mind.
The smell of money: My grandpa had a small vault at home. Everyday
after closing his trading office, he would come back home, open the vault, do
the maths and keep the money inside. The same would follow every morning before
leaving, he would open the vault, take out the cash for daily operation and
lock it. The crunchy smell of fresh currency sometime laden with sweat of his
hardworking hands had their own place in my sense of smells.The money also
smelled security to the little me.
My younger uncle used
to run an oil mill in the backyard of our house. They would often extract
ground nut and mustard oil. The smell was distinctive and became a part of our
family. The whole process of oil extraction and oil cake formation was a glory in itself and each carried a distinctive smell. The raw oil and the oil cake used to smell horrible. SO much that if you visit the il mill you cannot come back without carrying the smell of oil, grease et all in your cloths.
You go east, you west
but home food is the best! Whether it is about the winter morning parathas or
crispy roasted corn on cob on the rainy days or smell of daily rice-dal sauteed
in ghee and asfoetida! Any aroma that came out from that kitchen was a great kindle for senses. My appetite would be limited though as I would have feed myself enough with aromas of garlic and onion being roasted in pan, tangy smell of lemon juice, sweet smell of Gulab Jamuns soaked in sugar syrup and who an forget the smell of cardamom. Ummm!
Off course
who can forget the smell of rain when you want to eat the sweet smelling mud
and puke at the smell rather stink of water soaked uniforms and socks. Your
home smells different on those days and yes off course your budget for room
fresheners increases during the monsoon season. Off course moist in the air,
half dried cloths and aroma of earth when rain drops hits it has it's own
distinctive spell on your senses.
Flowers are widely associated with
fragrances and perfumes. Whether it is Rose, Lily or Jasmine, our garden has it
all. My parents were extremely fond of gardening and were always eager to add
all new varieties of plants and flowers in our garden.
I am still a dog who has
a strong sense and love for sniffing the smell and fragrances
This post is written for Indiblogger Smelly to smiley contest sponsored by Ambipur
To know more about Ambipur, do visit their Facebook page
To know more about Ambipur, do visit their Facebook page
Posts
This truly was an awesome post, a walk down memory lane using smells alone.
ReplyDeleteAll the very best for the contest...
Wow smell of rain, cooking in the kitchen and jasmine is heavenly!
ReplyDeleteThat's quite a confession or releasing secrets. Awesome:)
ReplyDeleteAhhh the smells made me go down the memory lane :D
ReplyDeleteSmelling my way back to the past now :)
ReplyDeletewhat a wonderful post...thoroughly enjoyed reading it
ReplyDeleteExcellent. I agree with all. I would add one more of my favorite. The smell of inside of a brand new car with pure leather seats. So sexy.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeletehow true it is that smell can take us to different places.. goo one, Ekta. :)
ReplyDeleteA Rat's Nibble - Fragrant Memories
Haven't you Nibbled yet?
so true .. smell can take you miles apart ! nice post :)
ReplyDeleteThis posts refreshingly different from the ones I have read so far..! Yeah smell is truly an entity ;)
ReplyDeleteATB for the contest!
Regards
Sammya
a lovely beginning. I could feel myself in a prayer room with the early morning sunshine and smell the pooja ingredients!
ReplyDeleteDifferent and creative! Lovely post Ekta :)
ReplyDeleteAll the best dear!
Such a nice article, i have been reading this best of one article and pictures is cute attractive.
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I have been reading such a good of one. this post is remember in my childhoods.
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Nice one sweets! Congrats for this one too :-)
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