So one ‘yay’ comment for the last post so far; it seems
there are people still interested in this Blog. By the way, I think I know who
the person who posted that comment is ;-[] Even though this post is long overdue
especially since I wrote that there will be more frequent postings. Still this
is not as bad as in times past.
Smell is one of the most obvious of senses. Babies use smell as in ID tool to identify people around them before their sense of sight is developed enough to do so. For me a few smells stick out: the smell of cinnamon flavoured gum being chewed by classmates during a field trip ride on the Khalsa School Bus, getting off at the Dehli Airport and taking in the morning air, khakkaria at the khet at our pind, the smell of a brand new Toyota, any lab with more than 20 computers, downtown Vancouver, Surrey’s Boundary Lake, a bus/railway station in india etc. The list could and should go on, but there are 5 smells that tower above all others.
1) Sarbloh: Sarb-loh literally translates into all iron. Most disciplined gursikhs eat out of Sarbloah. For the longest time I thought that it was because of the excellent taste and the out of this world smell. I cannot forget the smell of Dhal put into a Sarbloh bata and just savoring it for the longest time. The best smell in the world is when you cook something in a sarbloh pot and let the smell waft through the room. This smell is especially prevalent at Raensbayees across India, not so much here in the West. The smell is mostly of lentil dhal and cooked rice. I almost forgot about garamjal or non addictive-tea that is served with the preceding. The bottom-line is that Sarbloh is like magic and anything that is cooked in there gives one the gratifying smell of heaven.
2) Soil covered ground after a light rainfall: to experience this to the fullest you need to go to a Khet in Punjab and go for a stroll to the outskirts and without any effort you will encounter smell number two. I have asked many what makes that smell. Most people who I have talked to recall it. Outside of Punjab that smell does not exist, I have been to a few farms right after rainfall in Richmond and even grassy patches, but that smell could not be found. It must be something the in dirt there; it lasts only for a short while. The last time I smelt it was in January 2003 a few days before I left Punjab. A part of the house we were staying in had an open space and the wind had carried some soil into the courtyard during the night, clouds must have moved in as a result and there were a few light showers by morning.
3) IKEA: You cannot beat the ingenious designs of IKEA products, the smell is hard to beat as well. I want to thank Bhai Tejinderpal Singh Toronto for introducing me to the ‘Sastaa Sunder & Takayooh’ formula of his and taking me to IKEA for the first time in 1996. By the way the three letters here translate to value, beauty and longevity. I have been there many times since then with Bhai Jagjeet Singh. When we went there in the winter of 2006 they had a warmed up Swedish drink near the checkout counters and Jagjeet Singh could not have enough of it. The smell was just amazing it was a mixture of cinnamon and garamjal mixed with a honey smell. It was so good in fact that he took a few gulps before we headed off to the checkout.
Generally speaking the smell that you pick up walking intothe store is quite fresh. I know in certain buildings for freshness’ sake they mop the floors with a certain scent. I always wonder what makes that smell last all day.
Who knows, maybe it’s a coating of some sort on the actual products since some of the sample perfume strip things on some magazines last for a long long time. I am pretty sure that the smell is intentional and there to make the customer at home during their stay at the store. Still the smell is alike in the warehouse area of the store and does not end until you leave.
4) UBC libraries: We have always had books around the house and one of the most cherished among smells for me has been the smell of paper. Not the kind of paper that you get on your front steps or the paper you put in your printer and binders, but the paper that is bound up and in book form. There is just something mesmerizing about the paper smell that directs one to act on an impulse. The smell of the interior of Irving and Koerner libraries at the University of British Columbia are such that they make one want to study. I don’t know if it’s the massive number of volumes of books or just the general atmosphere.
The books they have at Koerner, Kwantlen University and Surrey Public Library and for that matter Vancouver and Richmond Public Libraries are roughly the same mean age. So, it’s not a matter of a lot of old books there so much as it is the sheer number of them. I was thinking it might be the architecture of the buildings but Koerner is quite recent, opened in
1995-96. It might be something else, but the anand that one gets from studying
at the UBC libraries is unique and powerful. I have tried to sit and study at
the Education Library at UBC but it isn’t the same. So overall the sense of
smell is overcome and it enables one to act in ways one would not in any other
situation: to pick up a book and read.
5)Home Depot: Even though I hate to shop at American owned stores, I still look forward to going to the Home Depot just for the sheer pleasure of smell. For one thing, all the merchandise is manly in nature and it’s almost as much fun as going to Fry’s Electronics in the States. The smell one should experience is where bulk pieces of timber. Massive piles of plywood, ties, 2X4s, sheets and others are like pine or cedar. For some reason there is freshness all throughout the store, it’s not the freshness of IKEA or Chapters or anything else. It’s the freshness of a newly purchased car mixed in with a freshly cut piece of cedar wood, added to it the smell of brand new power tools and cypress leaves mowed over by a lawnmower. To get an idea of how great it is,one just needs to pay a visit to your local Home Depot.
There are other smells that have made me feel good about living life among them: Chapters bookstores, the smell in our kitchen after freshly baked bread is taken out of the oven, just after pizza is made, the very first time I got inside my new car in 2004, Mud Bay, Lynn Canyon, and opening new computer components for the first few minutes.
