I am unable to recall when I used a perfume for the first time, but I readily recall the rebuff its use evoked from my paternal uncle, who the entire family looked up to for guidance and support.
Hailing from a semi-urban town in Tamil Nadu, I had gone to (the then) Madras for college education. I was visiting my uncle during vacation, way back in 1965, when the whiff of the deodorant I was using invited his remark, “See, the ‘minor’ from Madras has arrived.” Stung by the offensive odour of the remark, I stopped using perfume whenever I visited him.
I was using different native perfumes but remained a dissatisfied man till the late-1970s, even after I took up a job. The day of deliverance dawned when one day, a family friend from Coimbatore who was settled in the U.S., gave me a gift of a bottle of deodorant — Brut Classic. It was love at first smell. Sniffing at the scent, I realised that at last I had found a perfume that tickled my olfactory senses perfectly and satisfied me. There was no looking back from then on. If there can be an addiction to a perfume, this was it.
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The following year the same friend brought a bigger bottle, all of 750 ml, of the same brand. This lasted for three years and more, and there is no gainsaying the fact that our friendship grew stronger and stronger.
Meanwhile, my addiction gained notoriety, and my nephews and nieces who would be coming from the U.S. on holiday, stopped asking me what I wanted from America. The particular brand I wanted, manufactured by a Canadian company, was not readily available in popular chains in that country. One had to seriously search for it, spending time and gallons of gas. Only one chain usually dealt with the perfume, and its outlets ran out of stock quickly.
Things appeared to brighten up with both my daughters getting married and leaving to the U.S. around 2005, enhancing my hopes for easy and undisrupted supply of the perfume. With much grumbling, they used to grab the ‘rare’ commodity just before their annual India visit.
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During occasional visits to the U.S., I used to stockpile sufficient quantities of the perfume, and by frugal and well-monitored use ensured I did not face any drought.
Under these tight circumstances, I looked forward to a visit to my second daughter in San Francisco this year. Six months appeared to me sufficient time to gather a lifetime’s requirement and return to India with the rich harvest. My daughter and son-in-law, amidst their office work and travel schedules, were able to get only a limited quantity of the perfume from nearby outlets. My departure date was drawing close but the perfume was proving elusive.
Having spent much time and gas searching for it, my son-in-law tried to convince me that better fragrances were available and took me on a tour of perfume shops in some malls known for expensive and exquisite perfumes. He tried to bait me to betray my favourite brand, offering expensive perfumes instead. I told him in no uncertain terms that he had “promises to keep”, while I had “aisles to go, before I sleep” (May Robert Frost forgive me). Finally, he placed an order with Amazon for the deodorant, in a last-ditch effort. I am still keeping my fingers crossed.
venkatakrishnan47@gmail.com