If one had to bottle the scent of Kochi, which one would it be? Would it be the fragrance of spices drying in the courtyards of Mattancherry, or the complex odour of fresh and turning fish at Chembakkara? It could well be the whiffs of fast foods and new age lifestyle—rich, funky, luxuriant— aromas of Panampilly Nagar or the olfactory emissions from the industrial landscapes of Kalmassery. Team MetroPlus undertook an olfactory exercise and decided to decode our city’s base notes. The bouquet ranges from -musty, dank, floral, minty, sharp, rich, putrid, chemical, pungent and of course the ineffable scents.
Tripunithura, Chembakkara, Vyttila
Nothing revives the past so completely as a smell that is associated with the heart of Tripunithura. Here the buildings reek of history with the gritty smell of limestone plaster of the walls, of the wet moss on the tiled roofs and of old wood. Perhaps, past smelled like that. In the afternoons you will be greeted by the delicious smell of naadan vegetarian cooking that wafts across from these buildings.
At the historic Palace Oval ground, the scent of freshly cut grass signals the start of another cricket season and evokes happy memories. The little pavilion at the ground still triggers bygone smells of old cricketing gear and the whiff of linseed oil used to season the bats.
Follow your nose, travelling from Tripunithura to Ernakulam and it will lead you to the fish market at Chambakkara.
Catch the smell of the day’s catch and the scent of fishmongers at their trade. Often, this blends with the perfume of the soap manufactured at a factory near the market. This ‘blend-smell’ is distinct and complex.
The bus terminal at Vyttila smells of a mix of hard-wired scents of petrol, fumes and dust, overrun at times by the smell of coffee, pungent masala, and fried fish from the eateries around.
Fort Kochi and Mattancherry
At noon a hungry smell of spicy rice and tender mutton coming off the bone overtakes the morning scents of freshly butchered meat, cleaned fish and rice in open sacks in the by lanes of Mattancherry. Whole hog cooking, to feed tradesmen, takes over in the small eateries around Lobo Junction and by mid day gastronomical smells- alluring and flavoursome- overpower the more matter of fact morning scents.
Of morning smells the most telling is found at Thooripalam, literally translated to Shit bridge. Scatological smells hang heavy at many places in inner Mattancherry, rising from a criss cross of open sewers, choked canals, overflowing drains and poor plumbing of the old area. At Kurupulavu bridge too the scents are the same, connoting burgeoning populace and unplanned housing. Strangely at ‘pade bathroom’ the smells are less intense.
Tourism has lent Jew Street a smell not of the place. The whiff from sun-dried ginger and turmeric, so romantically cherished, is peppered with the commercial smells of non-alcoholic perfumes and incense. Adding to the bouquet of gaudy ensnaring aromas are the eye-catching scents, emanating from harsh coloured heaps of powder,
The body notes of Bazaar Road are made up of smells of trade- a mix of heat, sweat and toil. Almost tactile the fumes blend body odour with the exhaust from cargo trucks. If money has a smell it is sensed here.
Fort Kochi’s bohemian air eggs one to wake up and smell the coffee. The cafe culture has given the place a scent of the young and the restless. The trodden lanes are swept by fragrances of waffles, latte and French loaf. It is only at the beach that the all consuming smell of the sea drowns all other notes. The yoga teacher on the sands instructs- take a deep breath, inhale.... and the smell that fills the lungs is the salty scent of the Sisyphean waves.
Marine Drive
Marine Drive wears a permanent smell of the sea—a warm, salty smell that so characterises the city. But as the day progresses, it mingles with other pleasanter odours of peanuts roasting in the sand, faint whiffs of food being prepared in the complexes nearby and of a confused melange of perfumes walkers have on.
Broadway
One can navigate Broadway almost blindly, for the fragrance of spices dominate the entire narrow stretch of road. The air is redolent of cinnamon and clove, cardamom and nutmeg. Broadway has other scents that make it what it is—one of Ernakulam’s oldest shopping streets. The scents sold in small bottles by vendors on the street side find their way to you, just as the smells of plastic and sheets of rexine. Musty smells of the past still linger over Broadway, around stores that have been there for over a hundred years. As Broadway ends in the ancient Ernakulam Market, the air abruptly meets with the unmistakable stench from the canal.
Panampilly Nagar
Panampilly Nagar presents a bouquet of smells—sometimes of frying patties, other times of spicy chaat stalls and often, of lemon grass and fruits. The smells of Panampilly Nagar change with the seasons, as the thattukadas and fruit vendors are not permanent fixtures. One can tell when the manicured lawns and lush gardens of houses and shops along this stretch are mowed, with that distinctive smell of grass and during December, the vapours of the fumigation van fill the air, sending noses up in a scowl. And of course, the smells from the canal that runs parallel to Panampilly Nagar, always reminds one of its existence.
Kalamasserry
Some nights the smells from the factories at Eloor near Kalamassery descend stealthily as only an unwelcome presence does. It creeps indoors, through the gaps under the doors and that rare window left open — that stench of progress, a vile chemical smell. The Kalamasserry-Eloor stretch, on the banks of the Periyar, is one of Kerala’s industrial hubs. The invisible fumes invade homes, the hint of their presence is olfactory and sometimes a bad taste in the mouth.
Edappally
The delicious fragrance of freshly made bread wafts out of the high walls of the Modern Bread Factory. The scent is warm and mouthwatering, the kind that teases and tickles the taste buds. Travelling in a bus, far above the maddening assault on the senses the fragrance is the strongest, undiluted. The trip back home on those hungry evenings gets that much more excruciating and seems longer. What wouldn’t one do for a bite of warm bread!
