Thursday, January 8, 2009

Anosmia...


The 5 senses... Sight, Sound, Touch, Smell and Taste... I never realised how much a part of life they really are untill I lost one of them... ANOSMIA... One the funniest problem to be suffering from. A depressing but none the less funny one...

I can't smell... "not at all??? not even a leetle bit??? are you serious???" - ya, ya, ya... I am serious!!! I dont recall ever reading a story or watching a movie in which some one looses their sense of smell, not even in a comic!!! Now that I think of it... Are there people who cant taste??? Have to check that up. ANOSMIA - now thats a word that doesnt come up on the GRE wordlists...

I was reading a book today in which the author was describing a place and was talking about the smell of rotting pages of old books. Then I began to wonder how incomplete the description of any place is without describing the fragnances or odours. It was only recently that it hit me that I travelled across europe without any idea of what it smells like! I have been living for the last 8 months with anosmic memories. All my memories of the last 8 months (for sure... I donno when I really lost the sensation of smell actuallyyy) dont have any smell associated with them.

To be sure it is a very convenient problem to have sometimes... I can live aparently any where on earth - as someone pointed it out to me yesterday. I walk across anywhere without holding my breath or crinking up my nose. But... when you are actually making biryani and someone else comes in from another room to tell you that the aroma is great!!! Its not that great feeling - trust me! 

I remember many of the smells... people ask me how??? (rather laugh at that tooo :P) but I do remember some of my most favourite smells... and not so favourite ones too! I figured that I probably could eat papaya now that I cant smell it, but then I realised that I can still recollect the smell... :) so memory is still intact!!! 

My doc says he cant figure out why I lost the sensation of smell... I should get it back some day just like that. Another doc says I should keep checking for smell (huh???!!!). Most of my friends go into peals of laughter when ever they remember it... and if I am in a mood to laugh too, I join in - in thinkin up all the things that i can do now without any problem. But then again... I know I am missing out on something very important in life... I wish i could get it back... But I have quite given up on it!!!