Chennai Smells!?!?!?!?!!?
With no self-delusion, the first smell that I can recollect of Chennai (particularly as I am away from town right now) is the repulsive smell of sewage. The visual of men stepping out of open drainages completely covered with muck to empty in the roads with complete nonchalance open garbage extracted from the bowels of the 'cultured' city in whichever part can be easily accompanied with the stomach churning stink of the contents that thousands will step over, drive over with their noses covered never to care as to how they cause it. Most people stepping into Chennai city for the first time will either encounter the overwhelming smell of urine of the central station (go there late night or mid-morning to watch the splendour of a lady cleaning shit from the rails with her hands) or the smell of dust, sweat and cigarette as they step out of the airport or the smell of polluting vehicles if they have to step down from a bus at Koyembedu.
The other prominent smell is the smell of urine that stems out of every sidewalk (and many staircases), particularly after our showers, the very memory of those smells could repel one from stepping into any road during the monsoon and the amount of scrubbing people do to themselves after they reach home during the monsoon because they had to wade through the water is partly because of the overwhelming memory of the smell - of a concoction of urine in the walkways, the residual fecal matter of many years, the garbage thrown by uncaring and insensitive society.
Then there is the smell that is an hybrid of cheap food and dirt, of petrol fumes wafting through the ajino-mato filled chinese food sold at a throw away price to satisfy the gastro-intestinal cravings of a stomach long since rendered insensitive by liberal helping of alcohol, particularly in north Chennai. The smell of large quantities of rotting food discarded in the open outside the most fancier restaurants in the morning in mylapore that produce their unique quality by mixing with the strong coffee grinding machines closeby, the overwhelming smell of shit combined with salt water that you experience while walking early morning in the marina, the stench of truely cosmopolitan garbage consisting of domestic, hospital and community waste carried during peak hour traffic by open lorries, discarding semi-composed mixed left overs of a million homes as a mosaic of mixed medium carpet on the roads for everyone else to step / ride on to their work, some while experiencing the lung choking stench if they were to be right behind the lorry in the most crowded roads; the mixed smell of sweat and baking soda (that is applied in lieu of perfume) that one experiences in buses crossing doveton or the smell of cheap perfume of different makes, all worn together and with equal flourish that hits and could cause temporary black out when one is in certain parts of the old city like triplicane; the overwhelming smell of petrol fumes in Nungambakkam, enhanced with the smell of burning tar whenever the corporation decides to dig the road, which it does every few weeks.
The smell of cheap oil frying unhealthy edibles on the road side only over powered by the DDT sprays by the corporation dark vans around Shastri bhavan. For that matter the combined smell of oily food, open decomposed food waste, sweat, dust and dirty leaking sewage that comes from every campus canteen whether it is IIT or Stella or any other.
The smell of the omnipresent 'udhubathi' adorning in reverence plastic gods painted in gold tucked using discarded cigerette packs on the autorickshaw front panel combined with the fumes of carbon mono-oxide of questionable origins that spew in different shades of black in volcanic proportions from the sides of the metropolitan buses. The strange smell of food and cheap 'jasmine' (its always that) room freshener in every restaurant of middle class category; the smell of mixed flowers from the flower vendors combined with the smell of discarded garlands and putrified and discarded 'theertham' outside many temples (inside few too), the smell of cigerettes combined with cheap aftershave that wafts out of every men's saloon. The smell of cheap upholstery that is not wiped of other people's sweat in the call taxi's of the city. The smell of garbage being burnt any time of the year in kodungaiyur and perungudi that compels you to question whether it is worth living in this city.
The smell of cow dung thankfully is now restricted to a few areas, but, the not the smells of the city's drainage which one can feel if one were to use (whatever is left of) the sidewalk. The gaps in the sidewalk that cover the city's drainage system opens in equal intervals (I am sure with every intention to swallow some innocents during the monsoon) gives a stench that perhaps is unique and may well qualify as the smell of Chennai.
The other prominent smell is the smell of urine that stems out of every sidewalk (and many staircases), particularly after our showers, the very memory of those smells could repel one from stepping into any road during the monsoon and the amount of scrubbing people do to themselves after they reach home during the monsoon because they had to wade through the water is partly because of the overwhelming memory of the smell - of a concoction of urine in the walkways, the residual fecal matter of many years, the garbage thrown by uncaring and insensitive society.
Then there is the smell that is an hybrid of cheap food and dirt, of petrol fumes wafting through the ajino-mato filled chinese food sold at a throw away price to satisfy the gastro-intestinal cravings of a stomach long since rendered insensitive by liberal helping of alcohol, particularly in north Chennai. The smell of large quantities of rotting food discarded in the open outside the most fancier restaurants in the morning in mylapore that produce their unique quality by mixing with the strong coffee grinding machines closeby, the overwhelming smell of shit combined with salt water that you experience while walking early morning in the marina, the stench of truely cosmopolitan garbage consisting of domestic, hospital and community waste carried during peak hour traffic by open lorries, discarding semi-composed mixed left overs of a million homes as a mosaic of mixed medium carpet on the roads for everyone else to step / ride on to their work, some while experiencing the lung choking stench if they were to be right behind the lorry in the most crowded roads; the mixed smell of sweat and baking soda (that is applied in lieu of perfume) that one experiences in buses crossing doveton or the smell of cheap perfume of different makes, all worn together and with equal flourish that hits and could cause temporary black out when one is in certain parts of the old city like triplicane; the overwhelming smell of petrol fumes in Nungambakkam, enhanced with the smell of burning tar whenever the corporation decides to dig the road, which it does every few weeks.
The smell of cheap oil frying unhealthy edibles on the road side only over powered by the DDT sprays by the corporation dark vans around Shastri bhavan. For that matter the combined smell of oily food, open decomposed food waste, sweat, dust and dirty leaking sewage that comes from every campus canteen whether it is IIT or Stella or any other.
The smell of the omnipresent 'udhubathi' adorning in reverence plastic gods painted in gold tucked using discarded cigerette packs on the autorickshaw front panel combined with the fumes of carbon mono-oxide of questionable origins that spew in different shades of black in volcanic proportions from the sides of the metropolitan buses. The strange smell of food and cheap 'jasmine' (its always that) room freshener in every restaurant of middle class category; the smell of mixed flowers from the flower vendors combined with the smell of discarded garlands and putrified and discarded 'theertham' outside many temples (inside few too), the smell of cigerettes combined with cheap aftershave that wafts out of every men's saloon. The smell of cheap upholstery that is not wiped of other people's sweat in the call taxi's of the city. The smell of garbage being burnt any time of the year in kodungaiyur and perungudi that compels you to question whether it is worth living in this city.
The smell of cow dung thankfully is now restricted to a few areas, but, the not the smells of the city's drainage which one can feel if one were to use (whatever is left of) the sidewalk. The gaps in the sidewalk that cover the city's drainage system opens in equal intervals (I am sure with every intention to swallow some innocents during the monsoon) gives a stench that perhaps is unique and may well qualify as the smell of Chennai.
Comments