This Village In Uttar Pradesh Can Sell You Perfume With The Fresh Smell Of Rain

The first drops of rain on parched earth can give you a high. Which is how the- mitti ki sondhi sondhi khushboo- came to be used for the typical smell of the earth at the time of first rains of monsoon. Finally, someone has put that smell in a bottle.

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Walk into a shop in the bustling Teen Darwaza area of Old Ahmedabad, and ask for 'Mitti' attar to give you that high even in the hottest of summers! It is also called 'itr-e-khaki'.

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Vivek Dilliwala, one of the oldest 'attar' sellers opposite Jumma Masjid says, the price ranges from Rs 120 to Rs 600 per 10 grams depending on purity of the perfume and sandalwood oil added to it.

"Mitti attar is prepared in Kannauj, the perfume capital of the country. A huge quantity of mud is first baked as cakes in a closed copper vessel to vaporise any residual moisture. Steam is then passed over this by a process called hydro-distillation. The distillation is carried out for around 45 days. The residue from the distillation is collected in sandalwood oil (a base for all attar perfume)," says Dilliwala.

Some of the attar shop owners in this business for more than 120 years claimed that one of the most popular uses of 'Mitti' attar was to cure mentally unstable patients."There was something about this fragrance that calmed the unstable mind with its freshness. This fact has been passed on to us from our forefathers."

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The local 'Vaidya' almost 80 years ago used to buy this fragrance from our family. There are few takers for this fragrance now. Many don't know this exists," says another attar shop owner Yunus Attarwala.

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Dilliwala adds that a kilogram of the fragrance might cost anywhere between Rs 38,000 and Rs 70,000 depending on factors like ageing and purity. And, it finds its uses in gutkas and tobacco too.