Tuesday, August 23, 2005

elaichi and carolina herrera 212

Strange yet familiar smells have been accosting me all day. Scent is the sense most closely tied to memory, yes. And for me it's a conscious activity. I am constantly smelling things in order to remember.

The floor that I work on smells of pulao. I don't know why or how.

Somehow, today, I have been smelling azeem all over DC. On the bus, in Subway while getting lunch, at the National Press Club, while walking down the street. I realized a few hours ago that the scent got on the collar of my shirt, so I keep lifting its black edge over my nose and taking in long, languorous breaths. I don't know how it got there. A lot of the clothes I stored in his apartment smelled like him for a while, even after a few washes. But that was months ago and I thought the smell has since evaporated. Is this returned lingering scent a sign that I should email or call him? Only if I want it to be, I guess.

The 6th floor of the building I work in smells like Pakistan today. I don't know exactly what the smell is. I kept inhaling, catching little slivers of scent, trying to figure out the memory, the time and place hazily appearing in my mind. But I couldn't.

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