OH THIS PERFUMED GARDEN CALLED 'THE WORLD'
Senses have an unique place in building up our personality alongwith emotions and feelings.Our power of various senses actually rules over us. Sometime or other we do step down to the level of primitivity when with extreme intensity we give in to a particular sensation.At that moment we become primitive while remaining in the social bracket in a limited way.
Deeply experienced sensations accompony us throughout our life.They carry those special moments with them. When we experience identical sensations anytime afterwards, they instantly bring back to life those particular moments of the past. The barrier between the past and the present breaks down immediately and lo,we are there in the past! We are surrounded by everything attached with that past moment-the place,the enviroment,the faces! For that moment we become more younger and more accomodative. Then we view those instances which were bitter for us or the people who had been cruel or unfriendly to us in a positive way.
In this the sense of smell reigns supreme! Scent has the extraordinary power that flicks you back, in a split second, through years of confused recollection, to a pin point in the childhood that is clearer than the moment in which you stand remembering!
There are so many scents filled up all around us- exciting,stimulating,even depressing too!...
what we experience by seeing, hearing and touching gives birth to the arts like painting,sculpture and music. But any scent,howsoever intensely felt, can not be expressed through a painting,a sculpture or a musical composition.
Scents are the bridges that join us with ourselves and with the world. The traffic that takes place on these bridges is simply unimaginable!
The more the intensity of a scent, the more the possiblity of its getting disolved in other sensations. A simple spray of room-freshner in the evening makes magic for me. Its scent slowly brings a pleasant dullness over me. My eyelids start to droop and a langurous violet colour alights over my halfclosed eyes. I feel a faint strain of a violin is coming to me from some unknown far off place and that music soon starts pulsating in my heart.
Same thing happens with a bunch of roses.Red roses are my favorites. Somtimes I just sprinkle some water over them and then sit nearby.The roses can't see,so I too close my eyes. Then our silent communication begins. The roses as if read my presence and I too wait for their response with a baited breath.I haven't to wait for long. The roses silently send their faint fragrance to me and after inhaling it I exhale a deep breath as a way of thanks.
The sense of smell is most near to the sense of taste.The smell of a particular dish immeditely brings its taste also to the mind and if we concentrate upon these sensations collectively, the pleasure of relishing that dish can also be had!
Alongwith many memories our mind stores memories of many a pleasant scents.When you are in a gloomy mood, just try to remember just one such scent, it will instantly refresh you! Generally everyone of us refuses to be overwhelmed by adversity and searches for some impetus to tide over it.Scents can prove very helpful at such times. The scent of hair or arms or cheeks of our loved one, the scent of a new-born baby's palate, the scent of dew-drenched grass on a summer morning- so many scents like these reestablish our faith in life.
Yes, I have stored in my memory the scent of my new-born cousin's palate and even though she is now twelve,that scent is still fresh in my mind. Similarly the scent of my mom's freshly washed hair acts like a tonic for me, not only this,I even cherish the musky scent of my friend Cathy's sweaty armpit!
Once while shopping I came across many a Persian perfumes. though they were distilled from various flowers they had become so pungent due to the added preservatives that a mere whiff felt like a scorching sun in the desert of Sahara!
I never use cosmetics or body-sprays.My mind turns away even from some reputed perfumes with the realisation that they are mere chemicals.
So I invariably turn to flowers. Most of my deepest affections among flowers go back to childhood. In reality, I feel, they are confirmations of the affections some fifteen years ago.
Yes, they are all there! the pink primroses and the white Madonna lilies of our very own first garden, the tea roses of my aunt's,the hyacinths of my teacher's drawing room in winter; the pure yellow violas;the petunias of country windows; and ofcourse the perpetual roses.
In this scientific age it is strange that we seem to have no explaination of the way the scent of flowers,itself an abstract and ephemeral thing, can imprint itself on our mind in so forceful and permanent way that a breath of corrosponding scent, many years afterwards, can make instantaneous contact with the first association!
We know about the connection between the sight and memory. Something visual and material is photographed and imprinted on the mind. But, how can something invisible, untouchable and intangible like the fragrance of flowers persists through years with visual and particular association?Is there any other device than the brain that will record fragrances through visual pictures that can be re-transmitted after many years? Oh, the very thought of such discovery mortally frightens me!....
-PORTIA
**********
Senses have an unique place in building up our personality alongwith emotions and feelings.Our power of various senses actually rules over us. Sometime or other we do step down to the level of primitivity when with extreme intensity we give in to a particular sensation.At that moment we become primitive while remaining in the social bracket in a limited way.
Deeply experienced sensations accompony us throughout our life.They carry those special moments with them. When we experience identical sensations anytime afterwards, they instantly bring back to life those particular moments of the past. The barrier between the past and the present breaks down immediately and lo,we are there in the past! We are surrounded by everything attached with that past moment-the place,the enviroment,the faces! For that moment we become more younger and more accomodative. Then we view those instances which were bitter for us or the people who had been cruel or unfriendly to us in a positive way.
In this the sense of smell reigns supreme! Scent has the extraordinary power that flicks you back, in a split second, through years of confused recollection, to a pin point in the childhood that is clearer than the moment in which you stand remembering!
There are so many scents filled up all around us- exciting,stimulating,even depressing too!...
what we experience by seeing, hearing and touching gives birth to the arts like painting,sculpture and music. But any scent,howsoever intensely felt, can not be expressed through a painting,a sculpture or a musical composition.
Scents are the bridges that join us with ourselves and with the world. The traffic that takes place on these bridges is simply unimaginable!
The more the intensity of a scent, the more the possiblity of its getting disolved in other sensations. A simple spray of room-freshner in the evening makes magic for me. Its scent slowly brings a pleasant dullness over me. My eyelids start to droop and a langurous violet colour alights over my halfclosed eyes. I feel a faint strain of a violin is coming to me from some unknown far off place and that music soon starts pulsating in my heart.
Same thing happens with a bunch of roses.Red roses are my favorites. Somtimes I just sprinkle some water over them and then sit nearby.The roses can't see,so I too close my eyes. Then our silent communication begins. The roses as if read my presence and I too wait for their response with a baited breath.I haven't to wait for long. The roses silently send their faint fragrance to me and after inhaling it I exhale a deep breath as a way of thanks.
The sense of smell is most near to the sense of taste.The smell of a particular dish immeditely brings its taste also to the mind and if we concentrate upon these sensations collectively, the pleasure of relishing that dish can also be had!
Alongwith many memories our mind stores memories of many a pleasant scents.When you are in a gloomy mood, just try to remember just one such scent, it will instantly refresh you! Generally everyone of us refuses to be overwhelmed by adversity and searches for some impetus to tide over it.Scents can prove very helpful at such times. The scent of hair or arms or cheeks of our loved one, the scent of a new-born baby's palate, the scent of dew-drenched grass on a summer morning- so many scents like these reestablish our faith in life.
Yes, I have stored in my memory the scent of my new-born cousin's palate and even though she is now twelve,that scent is still fresh in my mind. Similarly the scent of my mom's freshly washed hair acts like a tonic for me, not only this,I even cherish the musky scent of my friend Cathy's sweaty armpit!
Once while shopping I came across many a Persian perfumes. though they were distilled from various flowers they had become so pungent due to the added preservatives that a mere whiff felt like a scorching sun in the desert of Sahara!
I never use cosmetics or body-sprays.My mind turns away even from some reputed perfumes with the realisation that they are mere chemicals.
So I invariably turn to flowers. Most of my deepest affections among flowers go back to childhood. In reality, I feel, they are confirmations of the affections some fifteen years ago.
Yes, they are all there! the pink primroses and the white Madonna lilies of our very own first garden, the tea roses of my aunt's,the hyacinths of my teacher's drawing room in winter; the pure yellow violas;the petunias of country windows; and ofcourse the perpetual roses.
In this scientific age it is strange that we seem to have no explaination of the way the scent of flowers,itself an abstract and ephemeral thing, can imprint itself on our mind in so forceful and permanent way that a breath of corrosponding scent, many years afterwards, can make instantaneous contact with the first association!
We know about the connection between the sight and memory. Something visual and material is photographed and imprinted on the mind. But, how can something invisible, untouchable and intangible like the fragrance of flowers persists through years with visual and particular association?Is there any other device than the brain that will record fragrances through visual pictures that can be re-transmitted after many years? Oh, the very thought of such discovery mortally frightens me!....
-PORTIA
**********
A splendor!
ReplyDeleteo wow! U really have lovely sense of scents.. with this article you made people aware of the magic of scents & fragrances in their lives.. Very beautifully written Posh :) loved it.. <3
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