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G O B A R
G Y A N |
I
AM SNIFFING |
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Young Ladies and Gentlemen,
 Before
you begin to read this issue of Gobar Times please put your noses on
high alert! Because this organ of yours is about to experience a
kaleidoscope of odours. No, there is no reason to worry.
Your olfactory (smell-detecting) system is very well equipped to
cope. I know we have always been told that we human beings have a
pretty poor sense of smell. As compared to a dog, for instance. Yes,
we are lagging far behind in picking up a scent—canines can detect
an odour at 100 million times lower concentration than us. But once
we catch the whiff, we make the most of it. We can distinguish
thousands of smells and store them in a part of our brain. And use
them in fascinatingly different ways—as an alarm signal (reek of
smoke, and we start looking out for fire); to dredge up memories
(aroma of freshly-ground spices takes us right back to our
grandmothers’ kitchen!) ; and of course to smell all the pleasant
things in this planet—flowers, wet earth, fresh food. Nose, my
friends, is what makes us feel happy, or sad, or angry.
It also spells serious business. Billions of dollars are spent
across the world to
create smells and in buying them.
Do you get the scent of an interesting story here? I do, too. Lets
go sniffing….
– Pandit Gobar Ganesh
E-mail: panditji@cseindia.org |
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