Smell Of Talc

In the middle of trying to decipher my writing on the shopping list and minding J as she trotted away to an aisle of her choice, a smell almost gave me a jolt. Fragrances often trigger nostalgia but this one was different. I swung around to see who has wearing Ponds Dreamflower Magic talc.

She was my race and age group but nothing else appeared common at first glance. Dreamflower Magic was launched when I was in college. The bathrooms in the girls' hostel used to be redolent with its smell in the mornings. Many of us loved it - I found it too strong to wear it myself. Coming of age, independence, celebrating femininity, great friendships, first loves, first heartbreaks are associated with this smell.

Unlike Cuticura Exotica and Lavender Dew that many of my mother's generation wore, there is something brashly feminine and emancipating about Dreamflower Magic that resonated with my generation and our willingness to overstate rather than understate our presence. The smell left behind a pleasant exhilaration unlike the weltschmerz that nostalgia usually brings.