Love Your Fragrances? You Need To Hear The Stories Of India’s Unknown Perfumers
Love Your Fragrances? You Need To Hear The Stories Of India’s Unknown Perfumers
By Jhelum Biswas Bose
Customised perfumes may seem to be a novel concept; however; in India; personalised a fragrance based on your personality and emotions is not new. In her TED Talk on Art of Seduction; Dr Seema Anand; shares a rather sensuous description of perfume wearing from the Kama Sutra. She speaks of how applying particular fragrant oils on specific parts of the body was considered an art in ancient India. One of my favourite fragrance stories is that of the discovery of rose essential oil and how Emperor Jehangir was so impressed by the aroma that it was named “Jehangiri attar”. There are several perfumers around the country that uphold these age-old traditions. Here are some of our discoveries:
Arq-E-Gulab
Located in Srinagar’s Old City; near the Rozabal shrine; this is perhaps the last of the rose water shops. This little apothecary of the Kozgar family (they migrated to Kashmir from Turkey) is more than 500 years old. The store has several decanters; but they are not for sale. So if do visit the little store for some rose water you must take your own empty bottle.
Balad
On the way to Thekkady from Munnar in Kerala; you will find this little shop in the middle of nowhere. I discovered it quite accidentally during a road trip. I had dozed off and when I opened my eyes; I saw the board of Balad. So you see I would have never discovered it had I not woken up at the right moment. The place specializes in oud blends; but also has a fine selection of vetiver; rose; and sandalwood. My favourite; of course; is their pure oud but I also love the jasmine and oud blend that was made for me.
Ajmal Perfumes
I discovered this brand in a mall in Bhopal. I was attracted to the gentle fragrance enveloping the kiosk. I loved the fine blending of the scents and what I liked best was that the aura of scent around it was not overpowering. I had picked up a bottle of their Amber Magic. The strong woody aroma is long lasting yet not “in-your-face”. It is much later that I discovered that it was founded in 1951 by Haji Ajmal Ali from Assam. While this family-run brand is headquartered in Dubai; there are several stores in India.
Ramakrishna’s Natural Handmade Incense Sticks & Oils
I first heard of Ramakrishna; the perfume man of Mapusa market; from my UK-based Bach flower remedies teacher in 2015. She had met him on one of her trips to Goa and was quite fascinated by the way he almost looks into your soul and makes a fragrance blend for you. So in 2017 when I visited Goa; I made it a point to go to his shop. There are several fragrance stores in the market; but Ramakrishna’s always has a long queue of tourists at his counter. However; he spotted me and asked me to come up earlier than my turn. He looked into my eyes; drew a symbol on my wrist with a fragrance blend and said; “You have come here to seek; the others have come here to get”. I still ponder over this sentence and what he told me about my life. He charged me for my personalized perfume blend but gifted me a bottle of rose fragrance; an oud blend and a dozen of beautiful incense sticks.
Manaklal Attarwala
In 2017; during a visit to Lucknow I visited Aminabad Bazaar in search of glass bangles; chinkankari kurtis and Tunday kebabs. Just at the entrance of Tunday Kababi restaurant was this tiny little kiosk selling some attar. The blends were beautifully crafted and I bought one bottle of khus and another bottle of mogra attars. Just a drop of each on my wrist; enveloped me in a cloud of fragrance; that lasted long but was very subtle. Later I looked up on Manaklal Attarwala and found that their base is in Indore. This is a great place to explore attar or essential oil blends.
Apart from these little-known places; India is thronging with hundreds of local perfume stalls. The entire town of Kannauj is like a city of scents. Walk down to Tilak Bazaar in Delhi; Ezra Street in Kolkata; Crawford Market in Mumbai; and Katla Bazaar in Jodhpur; and you will find numerous perfume shops and you can just allow your instincts to guide you to the store that’s meant for you. Of course; there are also the popular ones like Gulabsingh Johrimal in Delhi or the SugandhCo in Lucknow; that are great bets.