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Tuesday, November 29, 2005

The scent of a woman

I was placing my order at Barista counter when someone sneaked up from my back saying"Mmmm...u still smell the same..."
Startled I turned to find a long lost acquaintance.
It's not an isolated incident..most of us associate a fragnance with a person/event/place.
A particular shaving lotion reminds me of Dad,Mom has a unique sweet flowery smell, the duplication of which I haven't found yet...I used to dig my nose in her clothes as a child when I missed her while she was at work.
The odour of new text books always added to the excitement of a new academic year in school..
A mixture of night queen n red roses remind me of marriage ceremonies.

One of my favourite olfactory perceptions have been..believe it or not...kerosene,cherry blossom and salysylic acid in any form
Thankfully I don't wear any of these on me...(would keep the mosquitoes away though if I went trekking)

My personal favourite over the years has been JMW..with my attention ocassionally ambling to Avon, Hugo Boss or Gucci products...
But at the end..it is always JMW...
There is something about the perfume that makes me come back to it...the apparent unassuming attitude..but it's lingering effect which leaves behind a part of me..long after I am gone...

If I had continued with Biotech ,I 'd have probably spent a considerable amount of my life in R&D,trying to figure out a perfume which brings out the personality odours in everybody..this way everyone would smell different even after applying the same thing..
there would be one problem though..some people would smell so obnoxious..we wouldn't know what to do with them...

13 comments:

Aparna Ganguly said...

Depends...but nothing which is too overpowering.
Strong odours are turn offs...being Dandy is ok..but if he gives the impression he has been bathing in his fav Calvin Klein perfume...I wouldn't fancy him much..

Saket said...

Funny you reminded me of my mum. She is an anesthetist and always smells of these weird agents from work when she comes home. Somehow though they remind me of a much sweeter time in my life as a kid...

Aparna Ganguly said...

@Saket...
That's sweet!!

Why don't u tell me something that smells like happiness to u?
For me...it's fresh baked cookies,infant's milky breath,
The soil after first showers of monsoon,new pages of a book,Mama's saree,...the list is endless....(thank God for that!)

Saket said...

My olfactory memories pale in comparison to yours frankly, but here is a half-baked attempt.:) I remember my mum making tea every morning and how lovely it smelled with ginger... the soil after the first monsoon is another favourite of mine... I loved the smell of these flowers, we called it raat-raani, when you go past them. Yes too many to list truly.

Aparna Ganguly said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Aparna Ganguly said...

@Saket
That reminds me..
dunno what u call them in Hindi-"shiyuli"
They are orange petioled,white flowers which blossom in autumn nights

Saket said...

No idea, neither Hindi nor Botany is one of my strengths.

Learnt something today:
"petiole"
The stalk by which a leaf is attached to a stem. Also called leafstalk.

Aparna Ganguly said...

@Saket..
oops..I need to brush up my Botany as well..(was never good at it except for the Latin names which I found interesting..

Anyways I meant the stalk by which the flower is aatached to the stem..whatever that is called

Aparna Ganguly said...

@Shashank
The classical theory was..human females don't emanate pheromones-chemical signals that attract the males of the species..but I beg to differ..
they are actual instances when the olfactory perceptions are intoxicated by a certain indivual..and without any apparent reason..

For more on this ,visit the following link

http://www.hhmi.org/senses/d230.html

Aparna Ganguly said...

A bit of Biotechnology..but I guess it's ok :))

POD said...
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Aparna Ganguly said...

@rohit
Interesting!

I guess u have analysed it right..the smell must have been registered in ur mind subconsciously....

Aparna Ganguly said...

Aah..that reminds me..I have learnt a new word recently.
Petrichor
(PET-ri-kuhr) noun

The pleasant smell that accompanies the first rain after a dry spell.

[From petro- (rock), from Greek petros (stone) + ichor (the fluid that is supposed to flow in the veins of the gods in Greek mythology).