Jasmine Sambac & Marigold Jo Malone 2018

Just a tiny spritz.
Close your eyes.
Take a deep breath.

I am back. I am back in that place where I was eleven years ago. The place whose impressions I had locked deep in my heart. Memories that I cannot summon in the hectic everyday life. With just one spritz, I am back, oh Kashi, you City of Light.

I remember the scents of incense at every corner, the smell of the humid air, the aromas of the colorful market stalls mixed with spices from every alley. Alongside them are the fragrances from the temples with their sacred offerings of sweets, flowers, rice, and milk. The melange blends with ever new olfactory impressions. Chai is added, along with the designated smoky scent of the ghats during the cremations. In the evening, I sit in the garden, the sun has long set, there is no twilight, no warning that the day is coming to an end. Just as there is no preparation for this olfactory experience that I reflect on while sitting in this garden. A garden full of jasmine blossoms, which only begin to release their fragrance at dusk. This clear, intense scent grounds me, everything relaxes, the bustling activity of the day fades away, everything seems suddenly far away, only dull sounds reach me. I arrive at myself in the “So Far Away.”

I close my eyes.
I take a deep breath.
In this moment, I want to stay forever in this garden in “my” City of Light. Oh Kashi, you beautiful, you wild, you holy.

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I can hardly add anything to this scent beyond my true olfactory experience. But I would like to note one more thing: It is the most authentic jasmine scent I have ever encountered. This is exactly how it smells at dusk in India in the humid air of a garden. Dreamlike.