A lot has been said about the beauty of a ' five sensorial ' experience and continues to be said. It is meant to be an experience that uplifts, exhilarates and awakens the soul. For me this experience happened to be India. After a brief stint abroad, the return to base and basics turned out to be the multi sensorial experience, the memory of which had briefly been relegated to the back recesses of my mind. But India changed all that!
The Indian experience is never gentle, nor a step- by- step process.....Its a complete, no holds barred, sudden, onslaught on the senses...and it hits the senses everytime, one can never be prepared enough. The first step beyond the insulated airport lobby says it all. Its difficult to remember now what hits first, is it the smells or the sounds or the feel or is it a total package??? Whatever be the case, its an experience that leaves an undeniable impression. No one ever forgets it.
India has a distinct smell. In the monsoons it is the smell of earth, so unique to countries where cement and concrete have yet not taken over the soil, and where the soil still evokes sentiments in people. In other seasons, its a mix of deisel, petrol, tobacco while one is on the move, and of lovely spicy food in the residential areas, the spicy onslaught proudly announced at regular intervals by the whistles of the cooker. The all important cooker must have a proud mention here for no Indian kitchen can be complete without a cooker. I remember a french friend of mine getting alarmed when she heard my cooker whistle. The french cookers do not whistle, like all things french they are too subtle for that. But thats for the french, there is nothing subtle about India, including our cooking.
The sounds cannot be far behind in the impact that they have on a unsuspecting visitor. Its a multilayered phenomenon. While on one hand there are sounds close at hand unique to your immediate surroundings like the taxi driver or the attendant or your neighbour or the vehicle, on the other, there are sounds that are omnipresent, wherever one may be. Sounding quite like the buzz of honeybees, this background score never leaves the scene, indoors or outdoors. The chirping of the birds, the motor of the overhead fan , the buzzz of the A.C. , tinkle of the temple bells mixed with the call of namaz, the call of vendor outside, the laughter of the children , or the title track of the telly-soaps from the neigbours house, if not your own...in India one is never alone. Take a minute off and tune your ears to listen to all the sounds that you can hear right now and you'll get the picture.
One can go on and on....the sights, the feel....its all so unique to India. And yet after the initial onslaught is over, one's system absorbs it all. India they say grows on you.It lets you be. It allows you to choose from its myriad tastes and sounds and feel. With its multicultural diversity, geographical expanse and practical fusion of cultures, it offers a wide palate to choose from with the promise that once you befriend it you will never feel alone or bored. And in case you choose not to befriend it, never mind, you will nevertheless be welcome for another visit in case you get tempted again to try, for you may hate India but you can never ever forget India.
The Indian experience is never gentle, nor a step- by- step process.....Its a complete, no holds barred, sudden, onslaught on the senses...and it hits the senses everytime, one can never be prepared enough. The first step beyond the insulated airport lobby says it all. Its difficult to remember now what hits first, is it the smells or the sounds or the feel or is it a total package??? Whatever be the case, its an experience that leaves an undeniable impression. No one ever forgets it.
India has a distinct smell. In the monsoons it is the smell of earth, so unique to countries where cement and concrete have yet not taken over the soil, and where the soil still evokes sentiments in people. In other seasons, its a mix of deisel, petrol, tobacco while one is on the move, and of lovely spicy food in the residential areas, the spicy onslaught proudly announced at regular intervals by the whistles of the cooker. The all important cooker must have a proud mention here for no Indian kitchen can be complete without a cooker. I remember a french friend of mine getting alarmed when she heard my cooker whistle. The french cookers do not whistle, like all things french they are too subtle for that. But thats for the french, there is nothing subtle about India, including our cooking.
The sounds cannot be far behind in the impact that they have on a unsuspecting visitor. Its a multilayered phenomenon. While on one hand there are sounds close at hand unique to your immediate surroundings like the taxi driver or the attendant or your neighbour or the vehicle, on the other, there are sounds that are omnipresent, wherever one may be. Sounding quite like the buzz of honeybees, this background score never leaves the scene, indoors or outdoors. The chirping of the birds, the motor of the overhead fan , the buzzz of the A.C. , tinkle of the temple bells mixed with the call of namaz, the call of vendor outside, the laughter of the children , or the title track of the telly-soaps from the neigbours house, if not your own...in India one is never alone. Take a minute off and tune your ears to listen to all the sounds that you can hear right now and you'll get the picture.
One can go on and on....the sights, the feel....its all so unique to India. And yet after the initial onslaught is over, one's system absorbs it all. India they say grows on you.It lets you be. It allows you to choose from its myriad tastes and sounds and feel. With its multicultural diversity, geographical expanse and practical fusion of cultures, it offers a wide palate to choose from with the promise that once you befriend it you will never feel alone or bored. And in case you choose not to befriend it, never mind, you will nevertheless be welcome for another visit in case you get tempted again to try, for you may hate India but you can never ever forget India.
