AMBIPUR - SMELLY TO SMILEY - THE ODYSSEY OF SMELLS

One day in Heaven, God was pacing up and down worried. Calling his assistant, God asked : "Where the hell is ND? I've been looking for her everywhere, but she ain't to be found anywhere. Is she again up to some mischief? I'm getting fed up with this girl now."
God's assistant ( worried look ) : "When I last saw her, she was bullying those new angels again. She tied their braids together, and they could not move to untie 'cos ND had poured glue on their seats. She is also messing up with precious things of Heaven, totally careless gal she is."
God ( frustrated ) : "Oh! this is too bad. She is always doing pranks and breaking rules of Heaven. Have to think of a way to stop her from fooling around like this. Can you suggest anything that might rein her in."
God's assistant ( mischievously ) : "Give her the ultimate test, God. That's the only way to teach mischievous souls some lessons."
God : "You mean the test of earth? ND ain't a bad girl, just too naughty at times. Maybe, one life on earth will do her good after all. Tell her I want to see her immediately. I've got a task for her."

Finally, I was dragged to God's court in the heavens. God looked at me thoughtfully and said : "I see that you are bored in Heaven these days and always fiddling away doing mischief, so I'm thinking of sending you to earth very soon on an important mission. You'll have to take birth and note down all the smells you experience in your entire lifetime on earth and report back to me. It'll keep you occupied and we'll also have some peace around here for sometime."

Hearing this news, I was simply elated, my joy knew no bounds. I had been breaking all rules in Heaven, purposely of late, in the hopes of given the ultimate punishment ( gift for me though ) i.e sent down to earth and it seemed my plan worked. I was thrilled in my heart. From the heavens, life on earth was so much fun to watch. It was our daily soap opera exactly like a T.V, and soon I'd live it for real. Hurray!!! My task was an exciting one too, and I could barely wait to start. I said excited 'byes-byes' to God and all his assistants, as I got ready to make my journey down to earth, to take birth.

  1. Smell of those 9 Cozy Months ~ I smelt warmth and security in my earth mother's womb : Very soon, after the angels bade me a much relieved 'bye', I found myself in the most coziest of places in the entire universe. A mother's womb. Even in heaven I didn't feel so much comfort, like I did here. For 9 months, I was cocooned in my little world of love and nurture. A mother's womb feels and smells awesome. No words to describe. I felt my earthly body grow bit by bit, in the warm homely fluid. After this initial 9 months of total leisure and pamper, I was ready to come out and mix up with the inhabitants of this wonderful world. First thing I noticed when I popped out, were the various smells that came from everywhere. Some I loved, some I hated...but I could ignore none. All these varied smells would soon define and teach me what life is all about. In the hospital where I was born, I was greeted with the typical 'hospital-dettol-medicines' smell. I just wished my earth family would take me away from it fast. And they did.


  2. Smell of my Baby Days ~ Baby Soap/Powder, Baby Oil, Milk, Biscuits, Potty & Nappy Smell : My baby days were all about these, around the clock. The maid would come every morning and give a good 'tel-maalish' with the pungent baby oil. Oh! She freaked me out at times, but the massage, I could not escape. According to them, it was good for my bones/skin. I hated the smell though and longed for a bath. For atleast a few minutes, I had to bear it. Grumble I did as well, very often. Yippee, how I loved splashing water in the baby bath tub specially customized to my size, as my mother would then soap me up with a good amount of the lovely smelling famous 'Baby Soap'. The mild smell was just too good. It made me forget that horrible maid and her sticky fingers on me.
I was a good baby, who simply loved her bath. It made me feel so fresh and clean. After drying me with a soft towel, my mother would then rub my body with 'Baby Powder'. Its heavenly smell reminded me of the heaven from where I had descended, not so long ago. Nicely dressed and wrapped, I would not sit quiet though. Its my milk time and I'm hungry. I'd suck milk happily, smelling warmth and love of my mother near. Later on, I got used to smell of 'packed milk' as well, and 'biscuits/cerelac' which became my daily food. And after all that feeding, it is but natural, nature would take its course and demand a nappy change. I'd wriggle and wail in discomfort, and would know instantly from the familiar 'potty stink' that it was my nappy-change time. My mother would quickly clean me, and I'd not rest until I smelt clean, of the baby powder again. This routine followed for a couple of years.


  3. Smell of my School Days ~ Hot Oil Champi, Prayer Incense, Tiffin/Maggi, Pickles, School Lab, Fire Crackers, Garbage Smell : When I reached school, I was slowly introduced to a whole range of smells. All intrigued me no end. My mother used to give us a 'hot oil champi' every Sunday. This was very special for us. It was a different one, than the oil I was used to when I was a baby. It was 'coconut oil' which my mother used as well, so it made me feel very special and grown up. We also indulged in some good 'olive oil massage', which we were to do ourselves and sit out in the sun soaking in vitamin-D. Olive oil was bit expensive, so sometimes we had to do with 'mustard oil' too. While sitting in the sun, we'd have some nice 'citrusy oranges' which would instantly fade out the smell of mustard/olive oil in our oil-sleeked bodies. And of course, bath time followed with variety of 'soaps and shampoos' - ( the brands kept changing ), the smell of which would linger on throughout the day.
While my mother was busy in her kitchen, both my sister and myself would stealthily sneak in and try out her 'cosmetics/perfumes/deos', which really had a very pleasant smell. We love acting grown ups at that age, don't we?

My mother would wash our dirty clothes by using heaps of 'detergent powder'. My sister used to love that smell and would hang around the washing machine. While I used to love the smell of 'petrol/diesel' and would rush out to see my father go off to his office in his vehicle, leaving the smell of 'burnt petrol' behind. I was addicted to it. Every morning before school, we would also have to compulsorily join mother for a quick prayer, where she'd light up some 'incense sticks' in front of the God's pictures. Incense smell would give a fresh, pure smell throughout the house.
For school we'd wear our starched uniform, and hurry to tie our bata shoes. I'd brush my shoes with the 'shoe-polish'. Shoe polish has a very strong smell. Before rushing off to school, my mother would make sure we ate the 'warm food' she cooked and also not forget to carry our tiffin boxes which would often have 'maggi' in it. Maggi smell would follow me till lunch break when the entire classroom would burst with different 'food smells'. All my classmate's tiffin boxes would be open, and that is one time I simply loved, for the delicious smell that floated around the room.
In school, there was one period which we all used to dread. The science laboratory practicals time, when we had to carry out various experiments. The science room would be filled with weird odors of 'various chemicals' - sometimes not so pleasant.

Though we learnt a lot about pollution, we'd still end up bursting crackers during Diwali time. Till a few days, the smell of 'burnt crackers' would be everywhere and annoyingly not leave our noses.
My mother is a cleanliness freak. Everything has to be spot clean when she's around. Once she arrived home and sniffed something. She immediately went to the kitchen. It was my duty to dispose the garbage every evening in the nearby municipality garbage bin. And that day I had forgotten to do it. My mother called me and asked me to smell the kitchen for myself. The corner where the 'dust bin stood, was stinking'. I realized my error and soon took the garbage to dump it in its right place.


  4. Smell of my Growing up & Adult Days ~ Yummy Food, Burnt Food, Cupboard, Leaks, Books, Paints, Flowers, Money and Farts Smell : Growing up is so much fun. I slowly discovered the world. It does have some special moments and smells that we can't feel from up the heavens, while watching below. My growing up days on this earth had already introduced me to a wide variety of different smells. I was discovering more. Firstly, I started living independent and bought my own flat. It was a beautiful little home, but needed a repaint badly. Our family house was 'white-washed' often, but this time I went for the distemper colour. It left a strange smell of ''paint' for a long time, along with the newly 'varnished smell' of the wooden furniture.
To keep my clothes safe from moths, I used 'naphthalene balls' that would greet me with its strong smell every time I opened my cupboard. I kinda liked its smell. In my new house, I also had to try cooking and many times I did fairly okay. But at times, I'd forget the stuff I was cooking, and a 'burnt smell' would spread in the entire house making me run to shut the stove off. So, smell of 'burnt milk or burnt food' were rather common, until it was replaced by some delicious food that I'd often order from outside.

Once, when I was in my home town, my mother was cooking something for us. A very strong smell came from the kitchen. We hurried to see if the 'gas was leaking'. To our surprise, someone had kept the knob open and gas was flowing out from there. Luckily, we detected it very soon, before any major calamity could happen. This instantly reminds me of another incident that happened soon after. Around midnight, I smelt a 'strong burning smell' in my then 7th floor flat. Smoke was coming in as well, from underneath the main door. My neighbours were also up and a lot of commotion was going on outside, in the passageway. On the 4th floor of our building, one flat was ablaze. Smoke and very strong burning smell had filled the entire building. We could not go down and was trapped. Fire engines were called and only after putting the fire off, we were safe. The family had left a candle burning near the curtains which caused the fire. It is one smell I'd never forget in my life. 'Smell of dread.'

Few years ago, I had to rush back to my hometown. My sister was getting married. And the entire house was enjoying the festivities. Varied smells of 'Mehndi, Fresh Flowers, Cosmetics, Aroma of Food, Perfumes/Attars, Sweets' etc lingered for days, long after the baraat had left taking the bride with them. This marriage was also a memorable one for all, because the priest had let out a 'loud fart' in between the solemnization of the holy nuptial union.

Now, did I say that I love books? In heaven only Chitragupt is allowed to carry one huge book, containing the list of names of all those who were born on earth or those who went back to heaven. We were never allowed to go near it, much less touch it. So, in earth when I was introduced to books ( in school ), I simply fell in love with them. Yes, I hated those study books mainly for the exams, but I simply loved the story book collections that I had. Over the years, that collection grew gigantic and whenever I opened my mini books-library - it's smell would greet me and comfort me, making me so happy. I simply love the 'smell of books'. Another fun thing when we grow up is, we get to 'smell money'. Nothing can surpass it, cos only with it we get to buy all these stuff, we've been smelling so far.

Recently a neighbor had died. A very strange kinda smell filled up the surroundings, which was very silent and sober. With flowers, incense and the smell of burnt dried-coconut shell all mingled together, it was a stark reminder that when ultimately time comes for me to depart this world, this is how I'd smell in the end, before my corpse takes a more pungent stinking 'smell of dead' rotting flesh. Everyone will eventually face that day, to go back to the heaven, where they came from.


Ah, I think I have somewhat completed my assignment for God and have collected enough nostalgic memoirs of various smells that have associated with me and my surroundings over the years. But yes, there is one more smell I was recently introduced to. It is the Ambipur Home Range. I wish, I had come across it earlier though. Most of the bad smells experienced so far, could've easily been vanquished with its mild, pleasant smell. Spraying of Ambipur in the rooms, gives such a pleasant and fresh feel. I like the way Ambipur changes life from 'smelly to smiley' instantly. God will be extremely pleased to have some samples of it as well, for his Heaven I'm sure :)
~~~o~~~

Ambipur - Home Range❤❀❤

Winning post of Smelly to Smiley Contest in association with Indiblogger

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