Mall-Culture Society

The thing with living in Malaysia is that we are a mall-culture-society. We hardly have parks. And when we do have, it is either situated at one end of the world where driving is the only option (and where you have to brave the traffic jams in order to reach them). OR they are packed with people to the point you feel like sardines in a can. And if it's not packed, it is a damn hazy day! We have haze perpetually all year round now. Here, have a look at this picture below and then tell me how can we go out for a 'picnic' at the park to enjoy the 'fresh' air.

Malls. They are places which sell everything from nail clippers to crook-locks for cars. They have spas, nail spas, slimming centres, cinemas, furniture outlets, hair saloons, gyms and supermarkets (which sell raw food too!). Some even have clinics in them. Not forgetting pet shops! Oh and yes, how could I not mention this. Eateries. They are EVERYWHERE! We Malaysians love to eat. It is second nature to us. Food ranging from Chinese to fast food to Western to Indian to many, many, MANY more.

So what point am I trying to drive home today, you asked? Imagine the smell each and every mall has. The onslaught of perfumes, food smells, and chemicals all mixed up in one lethal combination. Even a person with a non-smelling nose would be able to smell it. Smells so pungent that it could cover the smell of rotting corpses!

Let me paint for you the smells that are in malls the moment you step into one.

The air in the parking lot itself would be filled with the smell of petrol. You will also smell the smell of deep-fried recycled oil blasting from the vents above. And nicotine from smokers  hanging out at the parking lots. And then when you walk into the lobby, one would be blasted with fragrance from the air fresheners trying to mask the smell of petrol and deep-fried-oil which had seeped in. Once you are inside the mall, there will be MORE fragrance coming from each and every shop (in an attempt to lure customers into their nice-smelling shops), perfume wafting from the perfume shop; new plastic smells from shops which sells things that are made of plastic; chemical, paint and industrial smells from the vacant shop lots which are undergoing major renovations; incense from the incense shop; food smell of all kinds and last but not least powerful, cleaning detergents from the restrooms. AND air-fresherners too!

On top of all these smells, there are air cons that do not function properly. Many are blocked with dust and grime. And I can smell the musty smells that are emitting from the air-cons and sometimes even mold.

Going to malls is equivalent to walking into a 'fragrance-induced-nuclear-bomb'. Patrons are bombarded by fragrance, ordour, chemical smells of all kinds and food smells. A combination of these smells can make a well person quite sick. And end up in anaphylactic shock for people like me. Oh did I forget to mention the perfumes, colognes, hair-creams, clothing detergents and softeners that waft pass me all the time?

And outside the malls we have 'The Haze'.

My ENT shared with me that he has a patient who is a Caucasian female living in Malaysia who upon breathing in the smell of seafood dropped dead from an anaphactic attack. And the market was about 500 meters away! She was lucky that her husband was with her. He jabbed her with the Epi-Pen and rushed her to the hospital. She survived. All by breathing in something she could not smell.

So we wonder why Malaysians are falling sick more than often. Why children's asthma is on the rise. Why allergies are on the rise. Why a lot of people are constantly bugged by the 'allergy-cough'. Why we have sinusitis.

I say it's the hazards of smells!