Redolence

I think mint smells of summer.

Not the mint that comes packed in little rectangular paper or cardboard boxes, but the fresh mint leaves you get only in the vegetable bazaars. I found this out a little while ago, and decided to investigate... the answer is that as a child, I was susceptible to heat, and that's not the easiest thing to cope with if you live in Delhi. My mother concocted a syrup concentrate whose main ingredients were raw mangoes and mint.

That's why mint smells like summer.

Long train journeys, with games of snakes and ladders thrown in.

Rain. Rain on dry, parched earth. The fragrance of quenched thirst.

Jasmine, roses, bougainvilleas, marigolds, carnations, freesias, gladioli, hydrangea... there's something about the oppressing heat of Delhi's summers that draws out all the perfumes of any garden, until all the disparate smells form one unique, heady, composite.

Hot curry and steamed Basmathi*.

Spice. Spice from the kitchen. Vegetables cooking in ghee** and masalas***. Chilli powder and cinnamon, thyme and lemons, curry leaves and ginger, cardamom, cloves, garlic.

Old books; new books; books.

Mangoes, grapes, litchis, watermelons, coconuts.

Hide and seek.

Curd and butter milk, heat and leafy shadows, water and flavoured ice.

Nightmares, for I rarely had dreams. Dreams, when I saw them with open eyes.

Incense, stories, laughter.

Crayons and swimming pools.

Neem trees.

This is what my memories smell of.

I hereby tag:

Q who is quite wonderful, and very patient, and who is not nobody.
Saim for whom I have no words, but many smiles.
Myprerogative who never ceases to surprise me. (I do remember your tag, and I'll do it after my exams.)
The whackster who always makes me think, and often makes me smile.
Eärwen who is beautiful, and whose blog I have enjoyed, but not yet commented upon.
Bindhu who always manages to make me smile.
Arun who sometimes frightens me.

I want to know what you remember.

* A kind of rice.
** A kind of clarified butter used heavily in traditional north Indian cooking.
*** Spices.
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Saim gave me an award.

:)

My first :)

I'd like to pass this on to:

Bindhu

Q

Arun

The boys at MATHAWAADA

Myprerogative

The whackster

I'd also like to pass it back to Saim.

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I have exams again. Isn't my life fun? Yay. Not.

Good luck to everyone else out there who will also be joining me in my misery. Do well.

My first tag! :)

Hi :)
So. I've been tagged!
Yayayayayayayayay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D :D :D

Ahem. (clears throat)
Okay, never mind... Let the post begin:
As I was saying, I've been tagged, and as the title of this post is still saying, it's happened for the first time, which has charged me up with the kind of exuberance hitherto only been achieved by consuming vast quantities of sugar at one go.

Therefore, never.

Yay.

It was mea culpa who tagged me, and she wants me to list my three favourite books. So here goes.

1. The Thorn Birds, by Colleen McCullough:
A book I read ages ago, but which continues to haunt me. It's so very well written, that five years after reading it, I still remember scenes and characters from it. Every one should read it.

2. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, by JK Rowling:
Though I love the entire series, but the tag requires favourite books, not favourite series' of books, therefore I choose this one for Hogwarts. This one is special for so many reasons, not least because of the story- which was brilliant. Then there are the characters who are introduced- Sirius and Remus. Part three was pivotal, and decided many things about the future of Harry, Ron, and Hermione. It was also the first Harry Potter book I read.

I could go on for hours, but I suspect you don't really care.

3. The Lord of the Rings, by JRR Tolkien:
I put this up due to the sheer effort involved in writing it, and because I have a volume which has all the three parts in it together, so it's actually just one book.

The book is not terribly easy to read, but it's what I call an epic. If you haven't read it, or if you've left it half way because you thought you were going to collapse under the sheer weight of it, one day you will realise the sacrilege you have committed, and weep. If it's because you thought you'd catch the movie instead, you should know that the book came first, and no matter how good the film, the book is way better.

There are many others that missed out on a mention... for example To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, etc. but after much thought and internal turmoil, I decided to put up these three.

I hereby tag:
Siddharth
Sam
Foxhound

There is also Jerry, but he's writing his school leaving exams somewhere in Colombo, so dude, this tag is for you only if you suddenly decide you need to choose between your papers and your blog, and in an Earth shattering moment of clarity side with the blog.

Much love.