In Sensorium: Notes for My People- Tanais
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“Fragrance has long been used to mark who is civilized and who is barbaric, who is pure and who is polluted, who is free and who is damned.” - Tanais
After listening to just a chapter of this entrancing memoir-meets-cultural history of perfume and scent, I knew I needed a hard copy. Tanais is one of those few authors who reminded me of that Vashti Bunyan song “I’d Like to Walk Around in Your Mind” - not in a creepy way, more of an “I love how this person thinks and wanna discuss a million things with them” way!
In Sensorium is in part a love letter to Tanais’ Bangladeshi heritage, presenting their personal journey in the greater context of the horrors of the caste system, the Partition, and the gut-wrenching violence exacted on women & femmes therein. They follow the through line of perfume and scent - the roles played by colonization, class, and climate; and how the drive to create beauty for its own sake knows no bounds.
Creating beauty comes naturally to Tanais, a self-taught perfumer. After reading this book I had to check out their creations - I am after all the kid who collected perfume samples. Luckily Tanais sells tiny rollerballs of their scents for $8 so I could not only afford them, I could afford several! My favorites were:
Nymphea - an aquatic white floral of lotus and lily with the comforting warmth of sandalwood.
Matí - a tribute to little tablets of Ganges river clay eaten by expectant mothers in Bangladesh. This complex, earthy rose evokes coziness with its notes of cocoa and Ganges clay. These scents are both truly addictive.
I also bought the Heart Chakra lipstick, which looks green in the tube but turns a brilliant berry on me, fading to a popsicle stain (see below).
If you have an interest in memoirs by queer brown femmes, Bangladesh, perfume, or just love lyrical prose, you will be grateful for the journey.