Earthly Beginnings

We journey to Kannauj, UP along with perfurmer Manan Gandhi to unearth the secret ingredient of the legendary mittiittar – the perfume that captures the aroma of the first rain

"I don’t know when it actually began”. It was an honest admission. To say that traditional ‘Indian’ perfume aka ittar has a long history would be an understatement. Abhay Tandon is a sixth-generation ittar maker. It’s what his ancestors have been doing for centuries at Devi Prasad Sunder Lala Kattari from a huge showroom-plus-warehouse that could pass off as a glorious residential property from the past. He sits behind a long wooden table with every inch of the wall occupied by cabinets with glass doors so that the varieties of bottles can be seen. Not that they need to. Along with the 55-year-old Tandon ji, everyone seems to have worked here for a long time, possibly their forefathers too. They all look at us with interest because we were here to know more about their flagship mitti it tar.

As it literally translates to English, this aroma is what one can smell when the monsoon arrives and the first drops of rain lashes against the dry, parched earth. You cannot mistake it for anything else. Interestingly, this is the only place in India and possibly the world, where you can find this in its pure, original form.