Meenakshi Shedde: Machchi ka pani!

India has a particular affinity for unusual scents We have mridgandha which is the scent of earth after the first rains How wonderful to savour such a scent and then celebrate it with an evocative name In fact pottering in the bylanes of Jaipur I once bought a wonderful perfume in a cheap bottle simply called Mitti or mud or earth I was impressed by the jugaad of the person who had invented itSapils perfume which is called Consensual PicMeenakshi SheddeThen we have Matsyagandha or she who smells of fish Our mythology of course includes many versions of the story of Satyavati daughter of a fisherman who was seduced by the sage Parashar as she ferried him across the Yamuna kya location boss As she was very reluctant the smart sage offered her four rapidfire boons he created a dense mist around the boat he predicted that their child later Vyasa would change the course of history that she would be renamed Matsyagandha she who smells of fish really thats a boon and ahem that she would get her virginity back afterwards Phew some sage Anyway even today we have the popular Matsyagandha Express running between Mumbai and Mangalore And Mumbais favourite battlecry on crowded railway platforms is Machchi ka pani fish water that dribbles from the baskets of fisherwomen in the hope that the dense crowds will somehow part allowing you to catch your trainNow I have a powerful nose that is receptive to the faintest of scents I love delicate perfumes in nature but strong perfumes from a bottle give me a headache so anyone trying to woo me can safely knock perfumes from their list Throughout my childhood if memory serves right our family basically had one proper perfume bottle Prophecy I now learn its a cologne spray which we kanjoosly sprayed on only for important weddings and such You didnt need more because in those days the brides and grooms families stood at the reception gates sprinkling rose water on you and applying a dab of attar from a little silver holder on the back of your palm after which you rubbed the back of your palms togetherRecently while I was killing time at Dubai airport dutyfree I was fascinated to observe what the Arabs and Westerners valued in perfumes including scents and names One Emirates perfume made by Sapil was in a beautifully shaped pink bottle but was called Consensual Aargh I thought It could have been something beautiful in itself but the name was hard to love given that perhaps millions of rapists in India have been allowed to go scotfree claiming it was consensual Rasasi also had an eau de parfum called Chastity Woman The Middle East it appeared loved to play the virginal innocent while the West loved to play it raunchyIf the chips were down I thought I could always consider an alternative career in inventing perfume names and florid copy Al Haramain offered Desert Rose Wishah Perfumes Dubai had Royal Mirage and Insurrection Sapil had Disclosure while Samawa proffered a Vurv Revolt Women dont ask The mostly Western perfumes included Playboys Play It Sexy Celine Dions Sensational Adidas Born Original Miss Americas Tea Rose Touch Mes Hot Femme and Hey Yous DInfinite Femme But Maryaj popular in the Middle East had a Golden Wheel perfume for men in a bottle shaped like a black tyre wheel with a golden hub cab for men who must be 4WD types in bed I suppose The old familiar Brut and Yardley of London had been elbowed into a corner by these arrivistesI discovered that oud secreted by the agarwood tree is highly prized among Middle Eastern perfumes Their perfumes had evocative names ndash Oud Ehsasi Tasmimi Oud Muklath Ehsasi and Mukhallat al Arais and I wished someone could translate the names for me But the stores Chinese staffers were laser focused on perfume targets rather than poetic perfume names Anyway I loved it when Sapil at one point exhausted from thinking up extravagantly sexy names simply acquiesced to Nice FeelingsMeenakshi Shedde is South Asia Consultant to the Berlin Film Festival awardwinning critic curator to festivals worldwide and journalist Reach her at meenakshisheddegmailcom