My sweet home: Smells and nostalgic memories

Sweet Home

Every one of us has experienced some moments of nostalgia when a faint but known fragrance caught our attention and brought back long lost sweet memories of the past. That is a wonderful feeling itself and throughout the day the sweet past memory flows through our mind and the present seems totally unimportant. We just start day dreaming of the past memory and the feeling is really awesome and sweet indeed. The everyday chores seems to be different and which is most important, it rejuvenates and refreshes our minds.

The event may be a totally forgotten, yet that fragrance has the capacity to bring forward that event from a remote corner of our brain and fill you with all those precious memories.

Memories associated with smell

Though we used to depend on vision over any other senses, smell is indeed a powerful sense which is closely related to both emotion and memory (the smell goes pass the cranial nerve to the olfactory bulb, where the smell is processed, which is also the part of the limbic system, the emotional center of the brain). So no doubt smell can storm into our lost memories so easily. Though an ordinary person can differentiate nearly 10,000 smells, no two persons reacts same to a single smell. Science apart, I wonder the art of nature which created such a durable and never ending hard drive, our brain. All we have to do is to give the right keywords to get what we are looking for. The molecules of different fragrances from my home just have done that. They served as the right keywords to bring out my wonderful memories to the forefront.

The smell may be of anything, related to our daily activities (smell of perfumes, petrol, flower, cooked food etc.) and it is truly amazing that how few tiny molecules have the power of activating such clear and bright memories. Though they are nothing but olfactory-evoked recollection of memories; they have the unique power of giving you a good feeling irrespective of the memory. Even not so good memories seem nice when recalled as the moment had passed.

Smelly to Smiley

Smelly air to smiley air

Indiblogger in association with Ambi Pur India have given us a wonderful opportunity to explore our sweet memories linked to smell. When I started pondering about the various memories and nostalgia kindled by the smell which hit me recently, I was astonished to find so many occasions and memories to express and it really became hard to leave a single one. Such is the impact of our memories of our life and leaving a single piece is often so difficult.

Smell and my home

Different fragrances evoke several sweet memories of childhood. That was the time when I was free from all the responsibilities, anxieties and bindings associated with adulthood. On looking back and analyzing those memories always gives a refreshing feeling irrespective of the memory (it may not be that sweet when I faced it). Nostalgic smells are there in every nook and corner of my home and the fact that I still share the same house helps a lot in this case. I can literally smell my childhood every day.

Sweet Memories

Smell of food

The smells of cooked food, especially that made by my mother always evokes some awesome memories. There are many such examples but I will like to give a special mention to the pickles and chutneys. It reminds me how I used to steal them in the afternoon when everybody used to sleep. Almost every food has some nostalgic memories attached to it.

Smell of surroundings

The smell of the surroundings has changed a lot. With increasing pollution I am afraid; I could hardly trace the natural smells of the surroundings of my home of the childhood days. But the smell of the flowers and plantation from the small stretch of garden in the back of my house still reminds me of the days I used to spend roaming about and playing on my own or with friends in that small stretch of land. Oh, those wonderful moments! I can still remember the mango trees we used to have in the backyard (no longer present) whenever I smell a mango.

Smell of old story books

As I was a passionate book lover, the smell of my old story books always brings back so many fond memories. I always feel extremely nostalgic when I have to shift those books due to any reasons. Those were my prized possession and I still not ready to share them with others (I have really bad memories of lending books!).

My Prized possessions (Old Story Books)

The smell of my home itself

Last but not the least I think every home has its own smell and it is known to every household member. Whenever I am out of town and miss this dearly smell so much I cannot express it with words. Every corner of my home has its own charm and evokes a nostalgic spell with every breath and as I have already mentioned nostalgic spells are always sweet. So however foul and strange the smell seems to be today, I know that it will eventually serve as a fond memory of my home in the future.

This post is for Smelly Air to Smiley Air contest by Ambi Pur India in association with Indiblogger.