Monday, May 12, 2014

Smells and Memories

Do you associate smells with memories? With nostalgia? I don't always but some smells are so strongly etched in my mind that no matter how many years have passed, I can't disassociate them. The pungency of vinegar Pringles chips with always remind me of the 24-hour long train ride to Hyderabad when I was 18 or so. I was traveling with my aunt and cousin and this was the longest journey I had made out of Kerala in a very long time (the only other being a school trip to Delhi). We had packed all our meals and a few boxes of Pringles. My cousin taught me to eat curd rice with Pringles and I had a love-hate relationship with salt and vinegar Pringles that entire train journey. Maybe I should also add that I gained a good 3 kilos during that trip.


Then, there's the smell of Lollia hand cream. I was chosen to go on this fabulous trip to Maui in Hawaii a couple years ago from work. It was essentially a paid vacation trip of sorts with a large group of people I had worked with in the past year. We stayed in a resort (that I'd not be able to afford) that had an award-winning spa and a beautiful gift store next to it. We got vouchers for a spa treatment and after 3 glorious day lounging around the pool and the beach, I decided to get my treatment done the day we were checking out. After the treatment they told me I can pick something from the gift store and so, very randomly, I picked this hand cream. I can't describe how it smells but I can tell you this is surely how heaven must smell. I still have a tiny bit left in the tube and whenever I feel like I need a break from work, I rub some in my palm, take a deep breath, and I am (almost) instantly transported to that wonderful beach in Hawaii.

Recounting those two nice trips of my life, I'm also reminded of how blessed I am :)

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