RO ON SPACE ON THE NOSE - 1

THE PRINCESS AND THE P

Why is reward linked to hard work, and in this case, punishment?

My journey to The Land of Fragrances & Flavors, Scents & Spices – the land of Jasmine & Jackfruit, Orchid & Lychee, Frangipani & Mango, Rice & Pandan Leaf – is always fraught with olfactory ordeals.

On the aircraft, the apparatus placed by the creator at the center of my face quivers at sharing space with so many breathing, coughing, sneezing, spluttering, sniffing, oozing, emitting, expelling, discharging beings called “humans”. My Nose is very challenged, despite Singapore Airlines’ clever attempt at Sensory Branding, with a patented scent that is melded into the perfume of flight attendants, blended into the hot towels they offer before take-off, and imbued into the brand itself – a smooth, sensual, seductive, sexy scent that is “exotically Asian, with a distinct aura of the feminine.”

Exotically Asian, my foot. For my Nose, it is a journey of extreme hardship, of the intense suffering of its sensibilities, of penitence to be paid, of abstinence even, as it cries out to my lungs to stop demanding air.

For over 20 hours, my Nose is pummeled with the smell of international travel – a motley mix of the fermemted stench of baggage, of never-washed upholstery, of reheated airline meals, of unkempt passengers, of unwashed armpits, of un-flossed crevices, of masking perfumes which only enhance underlying notes.

Even in Business or First, it is much the same – if only less intense.

Perhaps no other sense is as invaded and infringed, penetrated and pervaded, abused and assaulted, raided and ravaged, as is the Space on My Nose.

The ordeal is finally over. I am soaring in a taxi redolent of Pandan Leaf and Jasmine Rice. I roll down the window like a dog hungry for new smells.

The scents of Singapore wash out my brain of all its recent traumas. The air, purified clean with Nature’s own hand – a tropical thunderstorm – carries many a pious offering to my nose.

An offering of Buddhist temple incense, the fragrance of fresh rain upon sun-scorched earth, the whiff of fresh-mowed grass, the clean smell of rainforest tree bark, and the exotic scent of orchids.

The real journey is about to begin.