'Bak kut teh' row and why smell is important
I walk home more often than not, and after I cross the pedestrian bridge to SS 14 (at about 5 p.m.) I can smell the scent of bak kut teh (Pork ribs cooked in herbal soup). This made me ponder on my Design Theory 2 class about 'Architecture of the senses'. The sense of smell probably conjures the strongest memory. I think we subconciously relate to many smells. Long after we forget a place we rediscover it when we 'smell' something which reminds us of this place lost in our memory.
I think long after I grow up and leave this area, the smell of bak kut teh will always remind me of my college days and ritual of walking back after college. There is this one song that Andrea Bocelli sang, Il Mare Calmo Della Sera which means ' the calm evening sea'. Everytime I hear this song, the scent of the ocean fills my nostrils. I do not know why, but that is how my brain, and I am sure many of our brains relate.
Glad that: Exhibition is over.
Listening to: Violin Concerto in E minor (Mendelssohn)