I’m standing at Al-Kareem Attars and Perfumes in Ibrahim Sahib Avenue, discussing Ruh Gulab with Maria, the lady behind the counter. It’s night however though she has been working all day, Maria says she doesn’t get “nostril fatigue.” So we converse about what I would like: a milder model of the traditional Jannat-ul-firdaus or Backyard of Paradise attar with floral and woody layers. Really, I’m advised that attars are the proper identify for the scents and attars are the perfumers who make them. After I looked for the suitable solution to say “maker of attars” it gave me “baai uttri” as a alternative, however since I don’t converse Arabic, I’m not positive.
Scents are a dialog. In Bengaluru, Ally Mathan was and is the unique perfumer, however since I stay close to Industrial Avenue, I find yourself visiting with the attar-perfumers there. The fantastic thing about dwelling in Bangalore or some other metropolis in India is you could talk about scents with perfumers to create distinctive fragrances that swimsuit a second and temper. Scents, in any case, do what phrases can’t. They converse for you.
The scent of Bengaluru is sandalwood and jasmine. To expertise sandalwood, it’s a must to drive two hours to Mysuru, the place the wooden is distilled into small bottles that scent of the forest ground. The shortcut after all is you could purchase sandalwood important oil at Cauvery Emporium on MG Street for some huge cash.
However what I’m excited by as of late is the rose. I’ve heard in regards to the roses of Hassayan, exterior Agra, from my perfumer buddy, Jahnvi Lakhota Nandan. She advised me that just about 4 tonnes of damask or Noor Jehan roses are picked earlier than dawn “by women and men shifting like shadows,” then despatched to Kannauj in wicker baskets the place they’re distilled in massive copper pots which can be slowly heated. The recent steam releases the important oils of the flower which then flows by means of bamboo pipes into one other container. That is known as the ruh al gulab or ‘soul of the rose’.
Indian and Arab cultures have a sophistication about fragrance that’s native and layered. We all know the right way to use attars, pastes and unguents. In Bengaluru, I can take pleasure in it by visiting one of many many attar retailers in Shivaji Nagar. Ibrahim Sahib road is the place I start as a result of it incorporates a number of attar retailers together with Al-Kareem, La Scents, IRS Fragrance World, Ajmal, Asma Perfumery and different conventional attar shops which have now morphed to create perfumes that mimic western scents from manufacturers akin to Roja Dove, Le Labo, Gucci and others.
Earlier, I used to decide on these western mimics, however now I gravitate in direction of conventional Arab scents. My present favorite is Mukhallat Jujur, a variation of the traditional rose-oud combo that’s the foundation of many Arab perfumes. Mukhallat means mix, versus traditional ittrs the place flowers, herbs and resins are distilled right into a base of sandalwood oil: a Karnataka connection.
As I advised photographer-filmmaker Ramya Reddy, who additionally creates perfumes for her model, Coonoor & Co, scent is linked to identification and reminiscence. A perfume can take you to a lemon tree that you just sampled as an adolescent; to a childhood crush who smelled of musk, or to the vetiver root that protected you from the solar.
The mom of all scents after all is nature. The flint and minerality of her rocks is seen in Chablis wines. The scent of spices reminds all Indians of their grandmothers. It’s in our poetry: moist earth and pouring rain, to cite a Sangam one which reeks of petrichor. The jasmine-musk that Indians dab behind their ear lobes is each refined and blatant. Inside every saree lies a thousand smells and tales, every wrapped in nostalgia. A scent thus, connects your previous, current and future. It strikes you in ways in which you can not articulate and even fathom. Perfume, like poetry, is emotion compressed right into a bottle or verse.
The pleasure of shopping for mukhallats and ittrs in Shivaji Nagar is the truth that you’ll be able to inhale the smells, modify their notes, and see what they evoke and invoke. Every scent restores emotions which were damaged by the lengthy arm of time. They carry jolts of creativeness, for each perfumer and wearer. A rose can hit you with the power of a sledgehammer. However combine it with musk and it turns into a delicate santoor. A tuberose can confuse, however combine it with amber and it sings. Scents in that sense, take you dwelling.
In Bengaluru, there are a number of methods we expertise fragrance. One is thru native incense manufacturers like Sugandha Lok which has a store in Gandhi Bazaar. The opposite is thru perfume oils. The final and maybe essentially the most labour-intensive is by carrying flower garlands in our hair. All these three traditions return in time. Early Indian males used to adorn themselves with flowers too, by carrying garlands on naked chests, excellent apparel for a tropical nation like India. Sadly for males, that bare-chested garland-wearing custom has been killed as a result of now we have copied western apparel with all its prudishness.
The good information is that attars, ittrs (name it as you’ll) and mukhallats are accessible to all of us. So go forward, purchase that vial of mitti fragrance, or inexperienced vetiver, or musk-rose, champaka or jasmine fragrance. Put it in your pulse factors. Guess what? The day will instantly begin wanting higher.
(Shoba Narayan is Bengaluru-based award-winning creator. She can be a contract contributor who writes about artwork, meals, trend and journey for numerous publications.)
