Smell the Cold

When you catch a cold, what is that you miss the most?

I miss smells.

I can deal with a runny / blocked nose,a sore throat, an aching head, the frequent coughing and sneezing and in general all the bodily discomforts that cold brings with it.

( HOW I deal with those is an entirely different topic though! ;-) )

For me, the entire experience of fine dinning is dominated by the olfactory glands.
For any dish to register in my memories, it has to pass the smell test.
Tastes are strongly associated with smells in my culinary memories.
Am not so keen about the visual aspect of it. If it dosen't look good, but smells great, I will have it.
How many times has it happened, that you've had a very tiring day at work - in fact so tiring, that the fact that you are hungry,is overridden by the fact that you are tired.
And in this state, you yourself cannot indentify, that the main reason for this fatigue is lack of food, and not lack of rest.
My grandmom always can identify this case with any of us siblings.
If any of us were being particularly edgy and full of 'kurkur' just before dinner time - she says that 'hunger and sleep have been mixed up in these brats' -
One whiff of a strong tempering (tadka / phodni) with curry leaves or garlic, and the truth dawns on us, that its indeed a good dinner that will fix all kurkur.

( Kurkur is one word in marathi which aptly describes the persistent grumbling due to any sort of discomfort (known or unknown), which is not serious, but irritating enough for the person invloved and those in his/her vicinity)

Ok. I digressed.
This blog is about smells, or rather the lack of them in an event of cold.

Many of our small comforts in a day, come from smells.
A perfectly brewed hot cuppa coffee or tea starts your day on the right note.
The just right bath soap you use, gets you all fresh for the day.
The pleasant smell of your prefume puts you at ease to work with people around.
The smell of coffee in between work, pushes you on for more work.

Am sure there are many more such smells, which put you at ease, and wrap you with a comfortable familiarity.
But with a nasty cold, you feel so left out and un-familiar with the surroundings!

In my average day, my walk to office itself is a riot of pleasant, familiar smells.
I travel by train, and while walking out of the station, familiar smells always greet me.

One is a French pasty shop, from where smell of freshly baked bread whiffs by.

Then there is a shop dedicated to indulgence soaps.Handmade soaps with wild falvors of fruits,flowers,even chocolates!Passing by that shop is almost like passing by an open perfume stall.
Then there is StarBucks coffee, just at the exit of the station. I am no big fan, but I do enjoy the bitter, earthy aroma of coffee, on a cold, wet morning!

With my sense of smell blocked due to cold, I feel like an alien while walking past these shops, who is totally uncapable of understanding these worldly pleasures.

My appetite is linked with smells too.
You see hot steaming rice and dal, with a fiery lemon pickle - but alas!
You can't smell it!
It seems like eating wax or plastic food, and you struggle to break the invisible barrier that stops you from indulging into the olfactory pleasures of your daily lunch!

same is the case with all the comforting beverages served during cold.
Ginger tea?, honey-milk-termeric?, pepper broth?
HUH! Bring them on and I can down them with equal ease!
They are no different to me, as long as the steam coming from the cup finds its way into my nostrils! :-)

You see mum cooking a nice greens curry, with a red-chilly and garlic tadka, or making a mint chutney in a grinder, a sweet pudding with cardamom , even boiling cabbage for some curry - but what the heck!
Its like watching a cookery show! You see it, but nothing reaches you, because you can't smell it!

Not being able to smell is like like being cut off from the main stream for me.
And given the kind of nosey person I am (pun NOT intended),
this surely is a big punishment! ;-)

Just can't stop giggling

Yesterday - C told me a funny incident involving his cousins.

We both were watching funny videos on the net, and there is this old one, where 2 roomies are at an electric point (a switch board) in a room. Guess its evening or something, coz both the guys are sleepy looking and dishevelled.
One is trying to fix something with a screwdriver, and the other one is holding a torch in one hand to aid his friend a work, while eating a banana in the other hand.
Suddenly the friend with the screwdriver starts shouting and twitching, holding the screwdriver in both the hands, as if he is recieving a nasty electric shock.
Paniced, the banana-eating friend also joins in while jogging in his own place and shouting, genuinely terrified.
This is when the screwdriver friend bursts out laughing and the banana eating friend shoves the half eaten banana in his face saying something not-so-good. :-)
The video is hardly a minute long, and watching it first time made me burst out laughing in the office.
Everytime I remember it, I can't stop giggling.

After watching the video, C told about his cousins A and B.
A was a teenager then, and B a toddler.
On a particularly busy family day, A and B both happened to be in the same room. B - being his cute and chubby self, spread his arms at the sight of A, and asked for a quick lift. A, being pleased with this affectionate gesture, lifted B, did a quick fervent jig and let out a scream only to drop B back to the floor.
It had so happened that B was holding a pair of scissors - and was contemplating to put them in a plug point. Being a toddler, he lacked the height to reach the socket. As soon as A lifted him, B seized the golden opportunity and plunged the scissor in the socket - resulting in the short comic jig.
No one filmed it at that time, but am sure (with all due concern to safety) it would have made an equally funny video. :-)

Accents

I've spent enough time in UK, to just be able to distinguish an Irish accent from a Scottish one, and a Scottish accent from a British one and all these from the acquired desi ones ;-)

Me and C, while watching TV , try and spot out these and keep a score. It has made us more keen listeners, and we don't go all 'Sorry?', 'Pardon me?','Eh?', 'Huh?', 'What?', '??!!!' while interacting with the local people as much as we did when we arrived here ;-)
We have even picked up some slang as well, or the style in which ppl here speak - with a 'ya?' at the end ;-) 'Going home ya?', 'you reach the Liverpool stn ya?, then turn rt, ya?' . And the more recent 'mate'. We chat in office with a purposeful 'mate' at the end of every single conversation.
'Cheers mate'
'cya mate'
'how u doin mate?'
'shut up mate' ;-)

The desi accents ..esp for the lot like us, who arrive with english which is all mixed up with our regional accents. There is 'Marathi English' which has all the words rounded and pronounced till the last alphabet, without heeding the subtulity of an english word. Then there is 'Andhra English' where all words end with an extra 'u' or an extra 'a' at the end. Then there is 'Tamil English' which has a lull for every word to resonate it like a tamil word, there is 'Mallu English' which is as hard to get as is actual mallu :-) Then there are numerous north indian accents which are almost like speaking hindi, rather than english.
Watch Russell Peter doing how desis speak english - howlarious! :-)

And then once arrived, we try and blend our regional english with the local one here, and in an effort to be more understandable, try to pick the accent here. Sometimes its deliberate, sometimes its a sincere effort, sometimes its an embarassing showoff, sometimes a subconscious twang and its just so funny at times. :-)

English is a beautiful language and shines through all it goes through at the hands (or mouths? ;-) ) of all those who take a go at it. ( Did I mess up the sentence here? ;-) )