The olfactory sojourn-from smelly to smiley!

My favourite thing about staying in an expensive hotel is the mesmerising aroma in the air that fondles your olfactory cells the moment you enter. I long for a similar one in my house where I am forever battling weird odours.
Stinky shoes and smelly socks are the usual culprits but manageable as the stench disappears the moment the articles are removed. I have even mastered the art of tackling the smell of wet towels that my kiddo and husband conveniently leave behind on the bed.
Heating milk cream to make ghee is another foul-smelling necessity that my maid is instructed to perform while I am at office.
There are still some wicked smells that just don’t go away! Want to hear the ‘smelly fixes’ I have been in? Here goes…
(Disclaimer: do not read further if you have a weak nose!)

Masterchef!
I am paranoid when my husband is out at night. This ‘strong’ Army wife needs to latch every door and window and recheck them before retiring for the night. One such time when I was alone at home, I could not sleep. So I decided to sit and watch a movie. Trying to be a multi-tasker, I put up two litres of milk to boil. What could be a better way to welcome dear husband than with his favourite ‘kheer’? I reduced the flame, leaving the milk to simmer and sat down to watch the movie in the living room. After an hour, when I could keep my eyes open no longer, I went to my room to sleep, locking all the doors enroute. Some time later in the night, I woke up to an awful smell of something burning.
Oh shit! I had completely forgotten about the milk. I ran towards the kitchen, frantically opening all the doors and was greeted by thick smoke and nose cringing stench of burnt milk.
The smell was nauseating. I cursed myself and switched on the exhaust fan after switching off the gas. The milk pot was lined with an inch thick black layer of burnt milk which looked like a fossil!
I thought throwing the pot out would save me from the embarrassment of explaining it to my maid but the smell wasn’t going anywhere. For the first time, I slept with all my doors and windows open….hoping for the odour to fade away. It didn’t! I sprayed room freshener, lit incense sticks but the smell just stuck. Just when my husband was about to reach, I lit fragrant candles all over the house, trying to use romance as an excuse while hoping to cover up the odour. The moment hubby entered the house, he said,’ Wow! The candles are lovely dear…'(Yes, it was working!)
‘But what did you burn?’ he asked with a wink.

Pet woes
I am a big time dog lover. Despite of this fact, the smell of a wet dog in the rainy season is unbearable. I have accumulated all sorts of pet talcums and perfumes( yes,you get them in the market!) to tackle the problem.
One day, we had invited over my colleagues from work for dinner. Every thing was perfect. We had even purchased a new rug to cover a patch of bad flooring in the drawing room. It looked ideal. As I went into the kitchen for the final touches to the dishes, my dog went to sniff and inspect the new addition and instantly developed a liking. The moment I came back to the dining room, I could smell a hateful stink. The wet patch in the centre of the rug was hideously staring at me. My hair dryer was used to dry it up but the stench did not budge. I could not remove the rug or let it be. Finally, the venue had to be shifted to the terrace.

Travel trouble
My domestic help was on leave. Not used to doing the household chores by myself, I forgot the clothes I had dipped in detergent water the night before and left for Mussourie on a whim. When I came back after the weekend, I was greeted by a bucket full of wet smelly laundry. Since it was raining outside, I decided to wash and lay out the clothes under a fan in the guest room. Yes, you guessed it right! My husband’s friend called him to ask if a guest room was available around and he invited him over for the night. I accumulated all the laundry and went to my neighbour, who is also a friend, to request her to hide it for a night. The guest room was still stinking, I told her.
She just smiled, took my entire laundry inside and returned with a bottle in her hand.
‘Here, take this!’ She said as she handed me a bottle of Ambipur.
I sprayed it in the room thinking, ‘Why not?’ To my surprise, it did not cover the odour, it absolutely removed it!

‘Where were you Ambipur, on the previous two misadventures?’ I was thinking and staring at the magic bottle in my hand.
Since then, Ambipur occupies an important place in our household and our car. The odour battles still prevail but I emerge victorious every time now…