Fragrances and Memories

Last two weeks were great, I was on a holiday, and guys, it was awesome!!

But somehow, I'm still neurotic!!

Before heading back home this weekend, I was seeing my relatives and cousins, the whole day there were things like big family brunches and such stuff!!!
Just as I was moving around in the house, a sudden memory, a sudden flash, and I was thinking "Gosh, why did I walk into this room?"

[Those of you who read my posts regularly must have gone through the one on fragrances, for those who haven't, it's Lose It!!!
PS, I have a very good olfactory system, and I sniff and recollect real good! ]

I could feel the pheromones gushing through my veins, just as they did last year! It was that typical hint of cologne ( or whatever) I could feel lingering in the room that had caused all this.
It had been a hundred years since I had sniffed that fragrance, it only feels like that, but yeah!
Where had the time all gone? All of it seemed to be stolen and hidden in bottles of likable odours- perfumes!

It was a nice smell, and when it first hit me, I was living all those memories again, unbidden.
I didn't know what to do then, to sniff it as much as I could and bring it home, or let out all that I had breathed in and get out of that room asap!!

Just then one of my cousins joined me in the room, and I realized the things that had just crossed my mind were far, in some other part of the country!

I knew, the other end of life it was!! And it was supposed to be long lost and forgotten, times change, so do the meaning of fragrances and memories linked to them!!

Brains? I wish there were things that could format human memories back and again, when needed!

Down The Memory Lane!!!

       I was reading another blog lately that had a lot of posts randomly imaging the author's memories... And  I found myself pondering my oldest memories, trying to choose one which I longed to live again...

   There it was- A day from the lovely early 90's, my childhood!

       I saw a garden in front of a house while a three year old me sat in the cozy lap of Nanaji at sunset during summer! Our house was near the beach, I've been living there since I was only a couple of months old till I grew up to be a smart teen!

       I can still remember the last rays of the sun for the day falling on us as I sat looking up at Nanaji, wondering how beautifully his old white skin glowed in the sun, and then he'd smile down at me, rub my cheeks, pull my nose, or tap on my head and say, "Eat your ice cream little sweetheart, it's melting fast!" 

        After I had finished gobbling down the ice cream he'd take me around, show me his garden, water the plants and cut the weeds, and I'd dive my fingers into the mud hoping to get another distinctly shaped stone or a colorful shell to add to my collection, I still remember naming and decorating the box I had put aside for it, "The Precious Box" (Mwahaha)!!

       All this time while he'd be busy with his dear plants, I'd gaze at the setting sun that no longer burnt my eyes, kill some ants (I pity all those creatures that fell into my water trap, I was a bad naughty kid back then), feel the breeze that was fresh off the sands of the beach and see the birds flying up in the sky wondering if I could ever fly like them or the superman or the batman till a low lying plane would scare me off with it's rumbling noise and I'd jump straight into grandpa's lap!!

       After all this I'd sit watching Bugs Bunny and Tom & Jerry stuffing in dinner which was always one of my favorites-there would be cutlets, Maggi, sandwiches, pizza, the famous Mumbaiya Pav Bhaji, even Vegetable Khichdi or anything special that'd come to mind would be on my table- all homemade, and Nina made them all very healthy for me, adding lots of veggies and desi ghee to her dishes without compromising with the taste (my masi is a great cook).

I must say I was pretty pampered back then...!

       I now know that every single memory in my head, that which I miss the most is going to be one of those moments in Mumbai, the whole of my childhood!

       I miss those days, and I miss Nanaji the most, Mr.Nihalchand Shah, your world still has your seat unoccupied, and vacant it shall ever stay! Love you grandpa!