Sights, Sounds and Smell

The brain is a highly complex organ, and scientists are slowly figuring out how it works. They know a little bit, not much, but they're still at it. They do know that there are nerve connections linking information whooshing in from the different senses to memory. In fact, what is memory really but a juxtaposition of all that we sensed at that moment - the smell, the taste, the feel, the sound.

I've an elephant's memory and remember things right from Age 2. My Mom is pretty amazed at the things I can remember from my Toddler days. I remember the sights, sounds and even smell. Yes smell! I have a keen sense of smell and a strong association with memory. Over the course of the day, familiar odors waft to my nose, triggering bouts of nostalgia.

The smell of Johnson & Johnson baby talcum powder reminds me of cute and cuddly Baby Naina. A curious mixture of gutkha and cologne reminds me of Grandpa. A particular odor of agarbattis takes me back to the dark, quiet prayer-room in my ancestral house.

The smell of crushed Strawberries reminds me of T and the Strawberry body shower she uses. A particular antiseptic cleaner smell transports to the bathroom in my Aunts house which all the cousins use to transform into a swimming pool during the summer vacations. The smell of Jasmine brings to mind the flower buds my Grandma placed in little katoris of water overnight, their fragrance freshening our bedrooms. A particular smell of methi chicken curry, brings back glimpses of my Dad bustling in the kitchen - no one can make chicken like he can! (This was in the days when I was a carnivore) The smell of rain-drenched earth and grass, brings to mind my beloved school - TAPs, quietly nestled in verdant Ridge Wood in the middle of bustling Delhi.

I would rather not dwell on the stinks and the negative memories they bring back. Yes, the sense of smell can be extraordinarily evocative, bringing back pictures as sharp as photographs of scenes that had left the conscious mind.

And then there are the vague smells, so faint you can barely describe them. They waft wispily about, teasing and tugging at blurry memories. My heartbeat quickens and my mind sharpens as I struggle to recollect what the smell reminds me of. The struggle is often futile; and the smell just leaves me with an unexpected emotion - longing or contentment, melancholy or happiness.

Nothing is more memorable than a smell. One scent can be unexpected, momentary and fleeting, yet conjure up a childhood summer beside a lake in the mountains; another, a moonlit beach; a third, a family dinner of pot roast and sweet potatoes during a myrtle-mad August in a Midwestern town.

Smells detonate softly in our memory like poignant land mines hidden under the weedy mass of years. Hit a tripwire of smell and memories explode all at once. A complex vision leaps out of the undergrowth. ~ Diane Ackerman, A Natural History of the Senses