Meet the Ittarati: The scent of nawabs has a new whiff

Hindustan Times | ByTavishi Paitandy Rastogi

Sep 06, 2014 07:11 PM IST

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Ittar or attar is no longer about traditional strong fragrance. Today, it is being made to suit the modern world. The result is a fragrance that lingers on.

Nice perfume,” complimented a colleague as one teammate walked in for the editorial meeting. “Yeah, it’s nice, right?” she asked, “What’s nicer, though, is that it isn’t a perfume. It’s an ittar.”

Many of us were surprised. The fact that ittar or attar, as it was traditionally called, could exude a fragrance that wasn’t overpowering, but had a subtle undertone, came as a revelation to us.

IT'S DIFFERENT

The transformation of traditional ittar is not limited to subtler, more sophisticated fragrances.

Even the packaging has become more user-friendly. The pretty, small glass bottles remain but the little ply stick has been replaced with roll-on bottles.

“The younger generation wants a mix of the old and the new. While they like the idea of an ittar as compared to a perfume as they find it more exotic, they feel the stick is too cumbersome to be used on the move and hence the roll-on,” says Gulbaksh Khan, a third-generation ittar maker.