“Oh no!” I thought looking up at the sky last Friday. ” It looks like rain!”

Alas! It was more than just rain – it was a veritable deluge with the rain getting heavier with each passing minute. On normal days I love the rain as it gives me a chance to stay indoors, listen to some music, curl up with a book and gorge on some onion bhajiyas but somehow, the grey clouds on Friday  cast more than a pall of gloom – they also spelled DOOM because I was going to entertain some really important people on Sunday – the Board of Directors coming down specially to celebrate the tenth anniversary of our company’s opening an office in Mumbai – an important milestone in our lives. It was a party which had to be more than perfect and a rainy day wasn’t going to help!

Ordinarily a wet day means unwashed clothes which if left unwashed emit a strange smell . Yet strangely, if washed and left drying, they also emit a strange smell.  A wet day also means that kitchen smells remain indoors and what normally smells aromatic and tempting only smells foul and annoying. Imagine welcoming guests to smells of frying bhajiyas, chicken tandooring and the overbearing  odour of onion and garlic? And things don’t get any better when these smells mingle with French perfume and deodorants…………

“You’ve got to do something,” Hubby Dear said to me when he found that the hand towel he wiped his hands on had a faint smell of garlic. “You can’t have the house smelling like this!”

“What can I do!” I wailed. If I put on the agarbattis you complain that you begin wheezing and I can’t go out and get any flowers –  the roads are flooded and I’m sure there won’t be any  flower sellers today!”

“Oh well I’m sure you’ll think of something,” he challenged, expecting me to work miracles (as I normally do)

I looked around the linen cupboard and found some aromatic candles. ” These should do the trick,” I said smugly to myself and proceeded to light them all over the house. But, funnily enough, Deep Fried Oily + Damp and wet clothes + Overpowering Garlic Ginger+ Aromatic Garam Masala+ Freshly cooking Basmati Rice+ Shallow Frying Fish + Tandoori Chicken + Nina Ricci’s L’Air du Temps + Davidoff’s  Cool Water + Vanilla of the scented candles only served to make things worse.

“This is not going to work,” said Hubby Dear stating the obvious. “Put them out!”

I was at my wits’ end. There were already too many smells and  I could already imagine the already offended olfactory nerves getting further offended with additional smells of wet umbrellas and muddy shoes adding to the profusion  of fragrances, perfumes, odours and malodours. With ten more men coming in, there would be a fresh onslaught of After Shaves and colognes adding to the mishmash of smells.  There was no way I could open any windows in the living room without having the table cloth flying out of the window taking my meal along with it. And there was no other way I could let the smells out.

“Well, just lump it,” I said, half-heartedly admitting defeat ” There’s nothing really I can do unless I pass along the clothes pegs.”

I could see that Hubby Dear was not even mildly amused.

Just then, I found a cannister of AmbiPur Air effects peeping out from behind my computer.

“AHA,”  I thought, help is at hand.

“Stop!” yelled out Hubby Dear. “What’s that? I don’t want you spraying something that will have the house smell like pesticide.”

“Well, pesticide is better than foul smell isn’t it? ” I countered, not wanting to give up on my last resource even before the first puff. ” And if this doesn’t work nothing really will! ” I added boldly, crossing my fingers that I wouldn’t be proved wrong.

Saying a quick prayer, I aimed the nozzle away from my face and pressed the trigger. Within two puffs the air was transformed. The foul smells were gone and a gentle smell of clean took their place instead. Emboldened by success, I sprayed AIR effects throughout the house and sat back relaxed waiting for the bell to ring and the dinner guests to arrive.

Thank You ! AmbiPur  for turning  my House from Smelly to Smiley! I say to myself as I hear the door bell go

Ding Dong !

“Welcome home! Welcome home!” says my husband shaking hands with our guests as I silently whisper “GoodBye”  to household Odours.

P.S. AmbiPur is easy to use – the trigger is smooth, the spray doesn’t make the eyes smart or irritate and has a gentle pleasant fragrance that is long lasting  and  masks all unpleasant household smells.

I am blogging for #SmellyToSmiley at BlogAdda in association with Ambi Pur.”