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Of all sizes and smells

Milap Chand Thoka has an enviable collection of perfume bottles, which resemble a range of objects and symbols

When my pen runs out of ink, Milap Chand Thoka plays a prank on me. The almost parabolic pen he offers exudes a rare aroma, but is otherwise not worth a jot. The huge parabola-shaped, translucent piece of glass is actually a perfume bottle made in the shape of a pen. For the last 30 years, Milap has been stacking up such surprises on nine shelves.

Perfume bottles designed to resemble a mind-boggling range of objects and popular symbols — the Statue of Liberty, Aladdin's lamp, cannon, dagger, mike, spinning top, smoking pipe, race car, time bomb, a pair of jeans with a metal button for a stopper and so on — form part of his burgeoning collection — over 5,000 of them. He has dedicated part of a shelf to perfume bottles that don't look like smell bottles. A portion on another shelf gives exclusive space to bottles, which are accompanied by their smaller versions. He calls this collection "Bade Miya, Chote Miya." Bottles with stylish glass stoppers have been put together in another section.

Milap's collection includes perfume bottles as big as (or as small as) the little finger of a just-born and ones that are as big as one-litre liquor bottles. In fact, for that touch of exotica, in one of the shelves he has placed elegantly shaped cognac bottles between the scent holders. Knowing Milap's penchant for curiously shaped bottles, dealers at Moore Market sometimes knock on his door. However, most of his collection is the result of weekend scouring at the market. "Thirty years ago, when I went there to buy a second-hand college book, a beautiful perfume bottle caught my fancy." Since then, he has been earmarking a sum every month for purchase of perfume bottles. Milap says, "I sell automobile stickers for a living, but it is perfume bottles that I am really stuck on. I have spent my whole life for it."

And he knows the money has not gone down the drain. He bought a Christian Dior perfume bottle shaped like Aladdin's lamp for Rs. 90. "I couldn't believe when I learnt from the Internet that the bottle has vintage value and is now worth Rs. 20,000." Milap hoards designer perfume bottles said to have been used by the likes of Elizabeth Taylor.

When Milap uncorks a few bottles, a heady mix of pleasant smells pierces the nostrils. "In each bottle, a bit of perfume is always left behind." He has also managed to collect perfume bottles with their contents fully intact. A torn cardboard pack contains 24 tiny bottles that look like cyanide capsules. "These bottles are 70-years old and are filled with the priceless liquid from Holland — Jean A du Croco (a popular perfume brand)."

He adds with a smile, "I always look upon the perfume only as a bonus, no matter how rare and precious it may be."

PRINCE FREDERICK

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