Do you know the smell of rubber?
Rubber?
Yes rubber(er...natural rubber after one level of processing). Not the white-going-brown sheets which have only a faint smell, as though apologising for having a smell at all. No. I mean the other kind of rubber, the congealed residue that sticks to the bottom of the collecting cans and has to be literally carved out? The sticky lumps which have to be dried in the sun and then put through chemical processing before it can be made into a presentable form?Comprehension dawns on some faces and gives way to a look of great distaste- bingo! I am talking about 'ottupaal'. For those who are still groping in the dark, I'll just say that it has a smell which is- for want of a better word- overpowering. It was this smell that assailed my nostrils as my auto turned into the side road which lead to(among other places) my Grandparent's house in Edakkara.
And my reaction?
I welcomed it, breathed it in and felt that I was home even before the auto turned in at the wrought iron gates.
Rubber?
Yes rubber(er...natural rubber after one level of processing). Not the white-going-brown sheets which have only a faint smell, as though apologising for having a smell at all. No. I mean the other kind of rubber, the congealed residue that sticks to the bottom of the collecting cans and has to be literally carved out? The sticky lumps which have to be dried in the sun and then put through chemical processing before it can be made into a presentable form?Comprehension dawns on some faces and gives way to a look of great distaste- bingo! I am talking about 'ottupaal'. For those who are still groping in the dark, I'll just say that it has a smell which is- for want of a better word- overpowering. It was this smell that assailed my nostrils as my auto turned into the side road which lead to(among other places) my Grandparent's house in Edakkara.
And my reaction?
I welcomed it, breathed it in and felt that I was home even before the auto turned in at the wrought iron gates.
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