I hate the smell of this place

1 minute

I hate that everything here has a smell. I hate that I smell like that smell. I hate the fact that every treatment uses oil that smells, and that when I walk away I smell like the oil, and that I cannot wash the oil off so that I won’t smell like the oil that smells like this place.

I hate that I am always oily, because everyday they rub me with oil which I cannot wash off until much much later, seemingly just in time to have more oil rubbed into me. There is no point changing clothes because they will only absorb the oil, and then start smelling like that oil that smells of this place.

My clothes smell of this place, even when they are freshly returned from the laundry, because everything smells of this place. You know how fresh laundry smells of lavender, or lemons, or scents called ‘fresh breeze’ and ‘spring sunshine’. Here, the laundry smells of this place.

When I walk to the canteen, arrive at the door, I hate that I can smell curry and parboiled rice before I open the doors. Sometimes I sit outside the doors — maybe if  I desensitise my olfactory senses — the place will not have a smell. Other times, I walk in, have two plates of papaya, a coffee and leave. Just so I have eaten something that does not smell of curry that smells of this place.

What does this place smell of? It smells of oil, dampness, herbs, spices, sweat, and curry. Its not that it smells bad, it is a merely a smell like other smells. But I hate the smell of this place, because everything in this place smells of this place.