For us lot, it is never just this. It is an amalgamation of so much more.
Every morning I step out of my house to get to work. This is a 20-45 minute commute depending on when I leave. And everyday my senses are challenged. I live in an apartment complex with ~160 odd flats and I am greeted by an elevator that has the smell of fresh newspapers, amul milk packets, a calvin klein perfume and definitely that of a dog.
I get into an auto which is either a fresh smell of agarbathis or the stench of an unbathed driver. Your destiny chooses you here. Then I navigate the roads - First stop: fresh fried aloo wadas merged with black grey fumes from a tempo that last did its pollution check 10 years ago and with the rotten smell of the discards from a thousand households. Next stop: the roadside fish market merged with the spices from the sahakari bhandhar (provision store), and again from the rotten smell of the discards from another thousand (this time floating in the canal nearby). Third stop: The smell of fresh flowers that the hawkers sell to hang in your cars to ward away evil, with the smell of the paan that the riskshaw driver adeptly opens with one hand and pops into his mouth and with the rotten smell of the discards from another thousand people (this time somehow has made it into the landscape as mosaics in a small hillock). Fourth and final stop: I reach office which is situated in one of the poshest areas and you would expect it to reek of everything fragrant, what with the multi national companies and five star hotels. But no, here you are welcomed with the unique mix of the fragrance from the flowers from a Nagalinga tree , the smell of temporary stress relief (cigarettes) , the smell of chanels and armanis and yes, you guessed it right - the rotten smell of the discards from another thousand people(but this time cleverly decorated with concrete). It flows like a river underneath the complex. You hide it from sight but alas you cannot prevent it from smartly escaping through vents and snaking into the air.
This amalgamation is the truth for many of us. For a non-mumbaikar, this is a lot to take in but for us, this is the norm and the truth. But it will not be long before even for us, this becomes unbearable. Till then, I shall continue to bear this daily journey that is interspersed with moments where I literally hold my breath.
