My Mom told, when she was at the airport, she couldn't smell right away. Only when she stepped outside then she smelt the traditional and most common spice of India, it was the smell of curry, or what I like to call, 'cari'. It was a regular spice for Indians.

Unlike us, we use salt and fish sauce to spice our foods, Indians use curry power or wet curry to spice their foods regular. Let just say, when we eat their foods, any dish we could taste the curry in it. It's what make India known as the Country of Spices.

Curry comes in many kind of colors, each kind has their own unique favors, and each favor has their own smells. 'Cari' has one thing in common, they are spicy. Every curry has their level of spiciness. Some can be just a little pinch, some can be like a pepper, some can be a lot hotter.

There are many kinds of curry. For example, there are 'cari'(s) just for making soup. Some curries are made for spicing rice, that is why sometime you see India's rice has color.

Each curry has their own kind of ingredients. Green curries are usually from leafs; brown curries are from cinnamons and some healthy phloem; red curries are from chillies, which are spicy ad hot. Not to mention there are yellow curries, which are mustard but some are made from beans. Curries are most likely made from vegetable, so they are healthy, not to mention, most of Indians are a part of Hinduism, so they are on a diet.

When my Mom tried one of the food and she said it was so spicy that she drank a cup of cold water to cooled down. While her Indian friend could eat it. She was quite suprise and asked her, how could she aet such a spicy soup like that. The Indian friend answered, it wasn't spicy for her, because she had been eating like that ever since she leanred how to laugh. And not only her, but every Indian loves spicy food, most likely every food is spicy, because they have one ingredient is curry.

Just like my Mom told me, curry is the main ingredient in their lives. Everything is curry! Curries here, curries there! So many curries! Just a pinch of curry in here! And put lots and lots of curry in there! Let just say, they love curry. In Asia, people eat rice: Vietnam, China, Korea, Malaysia, Japan,... These country eat white rice, but India is different. Their rice has a beautiful color, because why? Because they put curry in it. What my Mom said, not only it smells good, but also taste more favors.

But...there is only one problem and don't get us wrong. My Mom couldn't eat that much spiciness. So she couldn't eat much. She lost weight for the pass 2 months in India, but she was happy that she was thin and all fit. She said, the foods were spicy but that was not mean she hated India, instead, it was an opportunity to feel the culture of India. And tasting it's one of them.

To conclusion, the smell of curry has a great impression on my Mom when she first stepped on India. And I have learned that curry is what made India to be know as the Country of Spices. I would love to taste the real favor of curry in the country one day, just like my Mom.

Kim Yong Yon.