Tuesday, July 18, 2006

The "nose" factor

My olfactory system (a.k.a. my nose) is unnecessarily active. My mom says I might have been dog in one of my previous “janams”. I need my food to have good aroma and not just the taste. My memory store is unnecessarily tied up with the olfactory system. There are some scents which remind me of some people.

Like the “Dabur Amala Kesh Tel” reminds me of my ajoba (mom’s father). He was great lover of perfumes. He would try different types of talcum powders and soaps for the sake of their perfumes. But hair oil was always “Dabur Amala”. His rack had lot of amazing stuff which we kids were not allowed to touch at all. I still remember the exact place where he would keep the oil bottle. It was the old glass bottle permanent resident there which would be filled in regularly with new small bottles. Years of spilled oil had peculiar aroma which would fill his whole room. We were occasionally given the duty to apply the oil on his head or his feet. And as reward we would get the small square salt biscuits or sweet supari powder (I donno the angrezi name for that?) or toffees from his cupboard. He used keep the cupboard keys under his pillow. Whenever he would reach the keys we would gather around the cupboard wide eyed in anticipation to get our share of biscuits. The cupboard had peculiar smell of naphthalene balls protecting my grandma’s saris from so many years mixed with different “attar”s (perfume) applied on them.

Sweet mango scent reminds me of my aajji (dad’s mother). We used to have large number of mango trees (at least a dozen of different varieties) in our farm. So the summer vacations were absolutely mango eating seasons. All the mangoes had different ripe time so there would be new mango variety coming home every fortnight. We had one room specially reserved for the mangos called “Ambyachi Kholi”. They would spread layer of dried straws on the floor and then layer of mangos and then another layer of straws on top of it. Every morning aajji would pick out ready to eat mangos in a bucket for us to eat another bucket for making “aamras”. Our days would start with mangoes and end with mangoes. We were allowed only peep inside the room. It had sweet mango scent mixed with the grass smell. I can still vividly remember my aajji sitting in that dark room and picking up sweetest mangoes for us.

The cabbage sabji smell reminds me of my hostel mess. For some reason our mess cook was in love with cabbage. So we were tortured with the sabji in every other meal. It used be only boiled vegetable with bare minimum masalas and a weird smell. It was utterly unbearable for me. We have skipped amny meals due to that sabji. And I still can’t eat cabbage.

… And the smell of detol, lifebuoy soap, hospital, cigarettes … all of them remind me of my dad. My dad was one totally dedicated (freak) doctor. His shirt would smell of hundred different things… lifebuoy soap he would wash hands with every time he examines a patient (hands would include the shirt sleeves too :-) ), detol used in operation theatre (though my mom claims that doctors are the most unhygienic people on earth), some blood spots here and there while delivering a cute baby (should I say babies) … and smoke of cigarettes, he would always find time for in his busy schedule. My sister and I would always tease him for wearing such smelly cloths I absolutely hated the hospital smell for some reason. I would never go inside unless I had some urgent to talk to him.
Now whenever I go to any hospital … all I can think of is seeing dad scolding some for something at the top of his voice, frown on his face for seeing me there (yeah, he seldom liked disturbance in his work), hurrying towards the operation theatre or delivery room, comforting the lady in labor or taking round in the ward and talking to patients like they have decades of friendship …

Hmmm… "smelly" memories isn’t it ? :-) :-) :-)

Thursday, July 13, 2006

Its Mumbai again

Serial blasts, ripped train compartments, deaths, cries, chaos, flesh, blood, bodies ...
It happened again...

City is scarred but not stopped. We will never stop.

But ... how long? How many more lives do we have to sacrifice?

Why us GOD... why us !!!

Current mood: Speechless

Monday, July 03, 2006

Why should I reduce?

I have been getting lots and lots of advise about why should I be getting in shape

My friend (Guy): "You know Ashley, wavelength matching and all are bookish and imaginary things. These days guys go for looks first and then see anything else. You have everything but shape. You should do something if you really want to get married to a "good" guy"

My Friend(Gal): "Yaar Ashley, If you reduce a little bit, you will look very good"

Mom:"Dear, if you don't start taking care of yourself right now, you will have problems at later stage of life. I don't want you to get affected by diseases like hypertension or diabetes"

Salesgirl:[Loudly]"I am sorry M'am, we don't have this dress in you size"([To herself]Get life girl !!! what do you think of yourself, Aishwarya Rai ???)

Conclusion: I am getting too much obsessed with cloths so I must get in shape :D :D :D