Smell your way to 187-year-old shop

Set amidst sundry shops of clothes and other knick-knacks, you can smell your way to a 187-year-old shop with 200 varieties of ittars (perfumes). Gulabsingh Johrimal is the oldest shop in the city at Dariba, Chandni Chowk.

Ask anyone for directions and the common refrain is: "Just go straight, you will smell it from a distance." And they are not wrong. The whiff of the concoction can take one's imagination from a starlit night in the midst of a desert to the fresh morning breeze of a hill station.

A step inside the shop and one smells the essence of a thousand roses, the fragrant freshness of a variety of other flowers and perfumes mingling with more perfumes. Tradition lingers as one finds ittars preserved in rows and rows of 19th century decanters brought from Europe.

The ancestors of the Singhs established the shop in 1816 when ittars had become the heritage of the aristocracy of India, both Hindu and Muslim.

Those were the times when maharajahs, nawabs and landlords sat for hours at such shops delicately sniffing and choosing their favourite ittars.

The centuries old Indian art of blended perfumes is extracted from fresh flowers and the fragrances are whisked into glass bottles after a tedious and long drawn process," informs Ram Singh present owner of the shop. His brother, Krishan Mohan Singh owns another shop close by which their great grandfather bought more than a century ago.

A steady stream of visitors keeps pouring in at both shops. Groups of foreigners holding city guides frequent the shop and buying in bulk is a constant feature. From President Dr Rajendra Prasad, Zakir Hussain and V.V. Giri to Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi had been their clients. The VIPs are known to have been admirers of ittar as well as the variety of cut-glass bottles available at the shops. Several large bottles displayed in the shops are Belgian cut glass, dating back to 1816.

Singhs' have families visiting them regularly from Pakistan. Different kinds of perfumed soaps, bathing oils, incense sticks and rose water is exported to the US, UK, France, Germany, Austria, Japan and Australia.

"Genuine ittar is a dilution of pure extract of flowers in pure sandalwood oil. The method of making it may seem simple, but is one which requires a great deal of precision," the brothers say.

Flowers for the ittar are collected from different parts of the country. Rose comes from gardens in Sikatra near Aligarh, kewra from Ganjam in Orissa, chameli and motia from Sikandpur and mogra from Kannauj, Bihar.

Ittars are priced according to the ingredients used. The queen of all ittars happens to be Rooh-e-Gulab, discovered by Noorjahan, the wife of Mughal emperor, Jahangir. It is considered the most expensive and is priced at Rs5,000 for 10 grams. An old-time favoured Mitti-ka-ittar, a reminder of the fresh aroma that emanates from the earth after the first summer shower, costs Rs500 for 10 grams. Others include Raat ki Rani, Harshingar, Motia and Kadamba.