Nostalgia.
what takes you down the Memory Lane?
Hello, I hope you are well.
This past week, for some reason, I have been overcome by nostalgia. The oxford definition of the word reads as “a sentimental longing or wistful affection for a period in the past.”
Do you delve into the past often? Do small “things” ever remind you of the past? A friend, a time, a place? Does that make you happy or sad?
Most of us always remember the past fondly. Whether in that moment it was good or bad, is immaterial now. We’re smitten by our childhood memories, times in school and college, often going back in time and remembering how beautiful and simple life was.
For me the trigger factor is mostly “little things”. Of other things, perfume fragrance is a major trigger of the past for me. The other day I was at a perfume store, I took out a perfume that I used to wear in college and boom! I was back in time to my room during my college days, it reminded me of my roommate with whom I used to share it, of the lanes of Kamla Nagar at the North Campus of Delhi University, of the college fests and my favorite professors et al.
I’m also a hoarder of old perfume bottles mostly because of this reason. That the fading smell from an old perfume bottle is equivalent of a time traveler’s machine for me. I have one old empty bottle of the perfume that I used to wear during my preparation days reminding me of the long study hours. Then I have one from when when I just got married, one empty bottle from the time when I was posted in Murshidabad, Bengal, taking me back to the official residence, its lychee and mango trees. All these empty bottles take me to all the beautiful and meaningful places from the past, all these memories through my olfactory senses.
Another thing I hoard for the same reason is boarding passes from all the trips that I have taken. Or even small souvenirs from trips, say a tissue paper from a restaurant that I visited during that trip or small shells and pebbles from the beach that I went to. These are more valuable to me than any photograph from the trip for they hold a stronger influence on my sentiments. Always positive and happy thoughts.
Do you also hoard things because of their nostalgic value? things that may be clutter or garbage otherwise but have immense value for you? do tell me about it.
On that note, I strangely do not enjoy going back to “places from the past” so much, that were once even an important part of my life, like my old school, or my bus stop from school, or my college or perhaps even the academy. These flood me with so many emotions, of how fleeting the time is, that I feel like only yesterday I was here and how quickly time has flown by. I never go back to the journals that I write. It all takes me back to how little time there is and quickly it has all flown by. Places incite the exact opposite sentiments as things from that time for me. Do you have a better take on this? Are you able to always get past the nostalgic thoughts, always happily?
I think all of us hoard memories, in one form or the other. Either in the form of an item or in our hearts. After all they are so precious.
Do let me know how you hoard yours?
p.s.
Sharing the link to a song that I really liked. Hardly find those these days.
Have a good Sunday. :)
It was earlier today, when I went throught this same feeling while I wore my same old perfume which I used to few years back and since morning I am just rewinding things!
It reminds me of those lines from Rebecca , " If only there could be an invention that bottled up a memory, like scent. And it never faded, and it never got stale. And then, when one wanted it, the bottle could be uncorked, and it would be like living the moment all over again."