In the prime of my newspaper reading escapades, because that's the most adventurous it gets here, I would wait for the Sunday edition. Apart from all the obvious reasons, the anticipation was for my favorite column. A literary column (no surprises there). The column would begin with a word, a nuanced, beautiful, ethereal word, and the writer would then weave a personal story around it. I was so much in awe of that- the storytelling, the style of writing, the ability to make someone feel as if it were their own distant memory. I wondered if I would ever be able to write anything that engaging and personal. I don't know what I had been lacking all these years to try, not succeed, just try. So finally here I am and here it is, my writing project. To see if I can reflect upon my reflections and open myself to evocation.
It's like when someone says petrichor, and you can smell the soil. That's not completely true for me though.
Back in high school, I qualified for a national level exam for which there were special lessons, which took place in a university classroom. During one of these lectures, our professor told us that the smell that occurs after a light rain is caused by microorganisms. I would learn the word for that fragrance much later. But there and then he wanted us to think about the science behind the simple things around us. I remember young me sitting in a classroom, meant for students of a much higher grade, feeling taller than myself, being completely fascinated by that nugget of information, turning around to realize that I could not pass it on to anyone just yet. Curiosity and a thirst for knowledge found me that day.
For years now, I have been writing one new fact in my journal every day (Did you know that Art was once a category in Olympics!!!) It is amusing to revisit those pages and see what I have learned, and from where (Did you know that the scientific name for goats is Capra Aegagrus Hircus; I learned this from a terrible movie playing on cable that I wasn't even watching).
I have since carried that bite-sized knowledge about pores, and plants, and rain with me, and that memory too. And I obviously ensure everyone knows that. A word with such a specific and exclusive meaning and yet, for me, it triggers a memory, that has nothing to do with either rain or smell. Tell me, where does it transport you?
- by NM
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