Of last minute urges and smells

Oh God. Just when I know I have just 4 hours left before the guests come and I haven’t even embarked on the main phase of making the Biriyani, and the entrées are still just an idea swimming in my head, i get this terribly deep urge to scribble something. I need to write. Have you ever had this feeling? You know the last minute feeling, before which you gotta do that thing. Like reading the entire Paradise Lost before entering the exam hall for your final year literature paper. Or how you have to take that last hug from your boyfriend before the train left. And then again you come back for a kiss?  Even steal an extra few gooseberries from your neighbour’s backyard before she caught you just on time? (I have done that BTW. Gunu, you reading this?)

SO i have exactly that feeling right now. I have guests for dinner, tonight. And i am here blogging to save my life. So then this urge comes straight from the shower. Last weekend, I got tired of asking my man to fund my expensive Body Shop creams, and so did some shopping that wouldn’t dent his pocket or my ego. I bought KEO KARPIN BODY OIL. Before you imagine any further lemme get one fact straight- every true blue east Indian must have his/her body moisturized. That used to be done with a good rub of mustard oil before bath and soon conscious people upgraded to coconut oil and then came Keo Karpin body oil. I am not even getting into the olive oil segment. I hated this oil massage ritual as a child, but you know it just stuck. (When you are standing next to a bong/oriya you cam literally SMELL them out!!)  I gave it up for a bit- a couple of years between college and marriage when I took refuge in the Elizabeth Ardens, Lush and Body Shops of the world. And then when I couldn’t fund my own cosmetics, I decided to go desi. Whey waste 100 dollars when 4 dollars can do the same job. (A little too fragrant for my liking, but who cares :D. As long as there are no scales on my hands this winter.)

This afternoon when I opened the bottle to take some, I almost jumped out of my skin. That smell. Oh MY GAWD. Was I Kolkata or was my grandmom standing behind me? It was like reliving an entire patch of childhood again! Its amazing how some smells take you back and a horde of memories come screaming back to you. And boy, ain’t that smell STRONG :D. OK, it ain’t as bad as the Navratna oil. But still. It was pretty pungent though sweet smelling. All my bath required was a lal gamcha (the red checked cloth towel) and a Lifebuoy soap, to transport me to a time a place I so so crave for, suddenly.

Sigh.

But I still detest a mustard oil rub. UGH.

My Biriyaaaaaniiiiiiiiiii!!!!