We Can Remember Smells Too

Last day, I was passing by a house when I suddenly got the smell of a food my mother used to cook for me.

For a moment, I thought of lingering there for a few minutes to find out if it was the same food that was being prepared. But then I felt it wouldn’t be proper to stay there, so I left the scene.

But the smell had already done its job.

Soon, memories came rushing back. I thought of my mother, the food she used to cook for me, and all the love that came with it. My eyes became wet thinking about her.

It made me wonder how a simple smell can take us back to a time, a place, or a person we haven’t thought about in years.

And that’s when I realized something I had never really thought about before.

We can remember smells too.

Research actually supports this experience. Smells can trigger vivid and emotional autobiographical memories and can sometimes give us that strange feeling of being transported back to the past.

I realized very late that you can even remember a smell or a fragrance.

Until I was a grown-up, I didn’t realize that we humans can even remember smells, be it a fragrance or a stench.

Well, for me, there are a few unforgettable fragrances that bring to mind so much warmth.

One is my mother’s fragrance.

It was a mix of her talcum powder, body spray, and herself. I wish I could experience it in real life rather than just remember it.

1. Not sure of the science

I have always wondered about the human brain and how it works. Just like memories of scenes, we can also remember smells.

Once, a friend was telling me that she still remembers the smell of her feeding bottle and her swaddling clothes. That’s when I realized it wasn’t just me.

Until then, I was a bit reluctant to disclose it, fearing people might find me weird.

Apparently, I wasn’t the only one.

There is actually a reason why smells can bring back such vivid memories. Research has found that smells can trigger autobiographical memories, often bringing back memories that are old, vivid, and emotional. Smell has strong connections with parts of the brain involved in memory and emotions. PubMed Central (PMC)

But honestly, I didn’t know any of this when I was growing up. I just knew that certain smells could suddenly take me somewhere.

2. Fragrances I cannot afford to forget

When my mom used to come down to India during her leave, she used to bring loads of new dresses and chocolates.

The moment we met her at the airport itself, I could get her sweet smell.

And her luggage too smelled awesome.

Once we reached home, Mom would open the boxes and start sorting things while my brother and I would be super, super excited.

Even today, I can remember that smell.

My mother, just like her nature, her fragrance too was sweet.

I wish I could experience it again.

3. The smells of my childhood

I still remember the smell of my school playroom.

When I was in kindergarten, during recess we used to be taken to the playroom where there were many toys, especially soft toys, kept here and there.

However, being boarding school kids, I never got the opportunity to even touch those toys. I yearned to touch them.

But the fragrance in that room was quite different and sweet, and as a kid, I loved to visit that room.

Another smell I can’t forget is the smell of the cakes my Ammachi used to bake using the baking oven of yesteryear.

The whole house used to be filled with the fragrance, and there would be enough water in my mouth for a ship to sail.

Lol!

When I used to visit my paternal house, my Ammachi used to be busy with all the farm animals. The smell of grass, the cow dung floors, and everything around that place are still fresh in my brain.

These may not sound like particularly pleasant smells to everyone, but to me, they are memories.

Then, when I started teaching in a school, I started as a computer science teacher.

And I used to love the smell of computer labs.

Back then, computer labs were not common everywhere. Computers were just getting placed in different parts of our lives, and somehow, even that smell has stayed with me.

4. It still reconnects us to our past

All may not agree with me, but I sometimes find a similar fragrance and suddenly recollect my childhood, my mother, or my Ammachi.

It is amazing how something as simple as a smell can suddenly take you years back.

I yearn to go back in time and revisit those fragrances.

To embrace my mother.

To see my Ammachi.

To touch those green grasses of my paternal home.

To once again experience the smells that were so much a part of my childhood.

Among the many gifts God has given us, the gift of smell is one.

It becomes even more precious when you can weave memories around smells and fragrances.

Some memories are stored in photographs. Some in words. Some in our minds.

And some are simply waiting inside a fragrance, quietly waiting for the day we smell it again.