Parminder Singh
Maxilla Meridius
- Joined
- Oct 15, 2025
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• First understand why it happens:
India is a smelly place by default. There's a lot of pollution, open gutters, stray animals, and a lot of street vendors openly cooking food with high amount of spices. All of those smells mix into the air. The humid weather of India boosts the smell further. Hence why, Indians are nose-blind bcuz the brain gets used to constant background smells and blocks them (science).
Compared to India, the Western and European countries have very clean air. If you smell of sweat, for example, the smell can spread easily and everyone would notice. In India, that does not happen. No one would notice your smell unless the smell is very strong. That's why most Indians don't wear deo bcuz it serves no practical purpose. (And Indians believe bathing is enough).
When Indians travel abroad, they do not consider the consequences of clean air.
Why do they smell like curry specifically? Because they live in small apartments to save money and cook Indian food with spices in congested kitchens. The tiny drops of spices make contact with their skin, hair, clothes, and things (phone, bag, wallet, etc.) they're supposed to carry outside. Wearing an apron or gloves during cooking is also not a thing among Indians. Lastly, in foreign countries Indians travel to, detergents r different, they don't contain the enzymes responsible for removing oil based spice aromas.
TLDR; Indians abroad “smell like curry” bcuz Indian cooking throws masala-oil droplets into the air that stick to skin, hair, clothes, and jackets. In clean Western air, even tiny smells stand out, so the scent becomes obvious. Indians in India also smell, but they are basically nose-blind bcuz India is a smelly place.
• Now, what to do:
- If you're in India, do nothing.
- If you're abroad, bath, brush, and wear a deo daily. Carry the deo with you incase it wears off. Wear perfume. Deo and perfumes are separate things, (which most Indians don't know about) deo kills bad smell and perfume adds good smell. Wear deo underarm and wear perfume on the sides of your neck and on wrists. Cook food with an apron, gloves, and mask (optional) on. Keep the things you're gonna take with you in a separate room. Make sure ur apartment/room has good ventilation. Buy detergent that can remove oil based residue (look for enzyme or decreasing formulas). That's it.
India is a smelly place by default. There's a lot of pollution, open gutters, stray animals, and a lot of street vendors openly cooking food with high amount of spices. All of those smells mix into the air. The humid weather of India boosts the smell further. Hence why, Indians are nose-blind bcuz the brain gets used to constant background smells and blocks them (science).
Compared to India, the Western and European countries have very clean air. If you smell of sweat, for example, the smell can spread easily and everyone would notice. In India, that does not happen. No one would notice your smell unless the smell is very strong. That's why most Indians don't wear deo bcuz it serves no practical purpose. (And Indians believe bathing is enough).
When Indians travel abroad, they do not consider the consequences of clean air.
Why do they smell like curry specifically? Because they live in small apartments to save money and cook Indian food with spices in congested kitchens. The tiny drops of spices make contact with their skin, hair, clothes, and things (phone, bag, wallet, etc.) they're supposed to carry outside. Wearing an apron or gloves during cooking is also not a thing among Indians. Lastly, in foreign countries Indians travel to, detergents r different, they don't contain the enzymes responsible for removing oil based spice aromas.
TLDR; Indians abroad “smell like curry” bcuz Indian cooking throws masala-oil droplets into the air that stick to skin, hair, clothes, and jackets. In clean Western air, even tiny smells stand out, so the scent becomes obvious. Indians in India also smell, but they are basically nose-blind bcuz India is a smelly place.
• Now, what to do:
- If you're in India, do nothing.
- If you're abroad, bath, brush, and wear a deo daily. Carry the deo with you incase it wears off. Wear perfume. Deo and perfumes are separate things, (which most Indians don't know about) deo kills bad smell and perfume adds good smell. Wear deo underarm and wear perfume on the sides of your neck and on wrists. Cook food with an apron, gloves, and mask (optional) on. Keep the things you're gonna take with you in a separate room. Make sure ur apartment/room has good ventilation. Buy detergent that can remove oil based residue (look for enzyme or decreasing formulas). That's it.
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