In this story by Saadat Hasan Manto, a refined Indian man sees a factory worker sheltering under a tree outside his apartment during a rainstorm. He invites her up to dry off and, consensual or otherwise, they have sex. As she spends the night he notices that every part of her body emits an at once foul and sweet-smelling odour. This enchants him so much that sex with other women, including the henna-smelling upper-class wife he marries years later, is less satisfying. Themes include social class/ethnicity, exploitation (rape?), promiscuity, sex, sensuality, smell as an agent for memory and desire.
Published in 1945 in pre-independence India, it is not surprising that the story attracted obscenity charges from the colonial authorities alongside Ismat Chughtai’s story The Quilt. What is surprising, given the era and trial location (Lahore), is that both sets of charges were dismissed.
Smell Text / PDF (2,100 words)