There are bookmarks… and then there are Indian olfactory bookmarks – the kind you don’t choose, they happen to you and the book that is in the grip of the culprits – your hands. Finding out their source is like reading through the 365 pages of an Indian thriller novel, to finally get it.
Like the perfectly round coffee ring on Chapter 7 that smells like Monday mornings and mild regret. Or the gentle perfume of masala chai between pages 121 and 122, forever preserving the suspense of who actually did it. Cracked the mystery behind this thriller novel did you – the whodunit of Indian flavours?
Some people press dried flowers into books. Others press pakoras.
Yes, I’ve met novels where page 45 was lightly buttered, presumably in the service of an aloo paratha that ma made with much love. And then the thriller whose final chapter smelled suspiciously of Maggi noodles, the 2:00 AM and not just the 2-minute snack? Why – because the suspense in the thriller was killing you? Adds a whole new layer to the mystery – Was the reader guilty of reading, or just hungry?
And then there’s my friend who swears by “scent layering.” She’ll sip filter coffee while reading romance, and switch to samosas for political satire. I keep telling her – one day she’ll invent the world’s first edible bookmark. I pray that when she does, she shares royalty for the idea.
If Love Swipe Blackmail ever gets such a special edition, I’m voting for popcorn. Suspense always tastes better with a little crunch.
#KahaniHaiNaAmazing
