En Kannauj, una ciudad al norte de la India ubicada a unos 400 kilómetros de Nueva Delhi, familias de perfumistas preservan una tradición que permite capturar el olor de la tierra mojada tras la primera lluvia del monzón (cambio estacional en los patrones de vientos que trae consigo temporadas de precipitaciones intensas).

Este perfume, conocido como mitti attar, se comercializa a más de USD 2.000 el litro y representa uno de los mayores tesoros olfativos del país.

Desde hace más de tres mil años, Kannauj funciona como epicentro de la industria perfumera local, atrae visitantes internacionales y mantiene técnicas ancestrales de producción intactas hasta la actualidad.

El aroma de la lluvia, llamado petricor en lenguaje científico, simboliza la esperanza y el renacimiento para millones de personas en la India, donde la llegada del monzón marca el fin del periodo seco.

De acuerdo al sitio web especializado Travesías Digital, los perfumistas de Kannauj dedicaron generaciones a perfeccionar la captura y conservación de esa esencia, elaborando el mitti attar a partir de materiales naturales y un método de destilación único en el mundo.

Según detalló Atlas Obscura, el proceso y el resultado entusiasman a clientes de Francia, Estados Unidos y otros países, quienes valoran la autenticidad y profundidad aromática que solo este perfume ofrece.

La demanda de mitti attar se mantiene en ascenso, impulsada por el regreso global a los aceites y fragancias naturales en la perfumería de autor. Kannauj se identifica como la “capital del perfume de la India” y compite con otras regiones históricas, como Grasse, en Francia, gracias a su legado técnico y cultural.

El proceso para obtener mitti attar comienza tras las primeras lluvias monzónicas. Los perfumistas recogen ladrillos y discos de barro local, que el sol y la lluvia han moldeado. Estos materiales se cuecen y se seleccionan minuciosamente según su capacidad para retener el aroma.

Luego, los artesanos colocan la arcilla en grandes ollas de cobre (deg), junto con agua. El recipiente se sella mediante una mezcla de barro y se somete a calor controlado con fuego de leña y estiércol seco.

Durante al menos siete horas, la olla se calienta y el vapor producido viaja por un tubo de bambú hacia un recipiente especial (bhapka) que contiene aceite puro de sándalo. El vapor aromático se condensa y el aceite absorbe, lentamente, la esencia de la tierra mojada.

Según precisó Atlas Obscura, el destilador repite el proceso durante varios días, retirando y reemplazando tierra y agua, hasta lograr que el aceite sature su fragancia.

Según Rajat Mehrotra, responsable de Meena Perfumery en Kannauj, solo esta ciudad domina el arte de preservar el olor original de la tierra tras la lluvia en un producto embotellado.

El perfume, al ser un aceite, se almacena al final en frascos de cuero o camello, donde madura y gana detalles aromáticos durante años. Un litro de mitti attar cuesta más de USD 2.000 debido al trabajo intensivo, la escasez de materia prima y la exclusividad del método.

El origen exacto del mitti attar se remonta, probablemente, a la civilización del Valle del Indo, que desarrolló técnicas de destilación de aceites y aguas florales hace más de tres milenios.

Según la investigadora Giti Datt, especialista de la Australian National University, la práctica sobrevivió invasiones, cambios religiosos y colonización británica. El Mahabharata, uno de los textos más antiguos de la India, ya hacía referencia al uso de perfumes en la vida diaria de la realeza y en rituales sagrados.

Con la llegada del islam, la tradición se enriqueció y surgió la cultura indefinida del attar, una perfumería de aceites puros extractados de flores, maderas y resinas.

Kannauj ostenta hoy el reconocimiento internacional de capital india del perfume y recibe visitas de perfumistas de países como Francia, que buscan aprender el método artesanal o utilizan el attar como base para combinaciones. El mitti attar se asocia a recuerdos, identidad y espiritualidad, y se emplea en ceremonias hinduistas y en la vida cotidiana.

El método no se replicó con éxito fuera de la ciudad, ya que la combinación única del barro local, el clima monzónico y el saber transmitido entre generaciones forman la clave del aroma.

MANCHESTER, N.H. – Amid a rising tide of calls from House Democrats and others in the party to remove Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., from his longtime post as Senate Democratic leader, a top Democratic senator says it’s time for «new leadership» in the party. 

Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey, speaking one-on-one with Fox News Digital during a stop in New Hampshire, said it’s also a moment for a younger generation of Democratic leaders to «step up the stage.»

Booker was interviewed on Friday, four days after seven Senate Democrats and independent Sen. Angus King of Maine, who caucuses with the party, bucked Senate Democratic leaders and voted with the majority Republicans to end the longest federal government shutdown in history.

Plenty of progressives and center-left Democrats have pilloried the deal to end the shutdown, which didn’t include the Democrats’ top priority: an agreement to extend expiring subsidies that make health insurance coverage through the Affordable Care Act, known as the ACA or Obamacare, more affordable to millions of Americans.

DEMOCRATIC SENATOR CALLS FOR ‘MORE EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP’ AS SCHUMER FACES MOUNTING PRESSURE

And even though he opposed the agreement, Schumer, the top Democrat in the chamber, has faced calls from an increasing number of party members to step down due to his inability to keep Senate Democrats unified.

But to date, no Senate Democrat has joined those calls for Schumer to step down.

After the final congressional vote to end the shutdown, Booker wrote that «the Democratic Party needs change. It needs a new generation of leaders to stand up to Trump.»

SCHUMER FACES FURY FROM THE LEFT OVER DEAL TO END SHUTDOWN

Asked if those comments were directed at Schumer, Booker said, «I’m pointing these comments at anybody who will listen to me.»

«Chuck Schumer’s generation, Nancy Pelosi’s generation, John Lewis’s generation. They have so much to be proud of. It is time, though, for new leadership. The other generations, X, millennials, Z, — it’s time for us to step up. The stage is waiting for us to lead, not just the party, but the nation right now.»

Democratic Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey is interviewed by Fox News Digital at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics, in Manchester, N.H. on Nov. 14, 2025 (Paul Steinhauser/Fox News)

Booker was interviewed ahead of an event at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics. New Hampshire’s two senators — Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan — were among the Democrats who supported the deal with Republicans.

Shaheen, who previously supported a bill to extend the ACA subsidies, on Monday defended breaking with her party to support the deal.

«We’re making sure that the people of America can get the food benefits that they need, that air traffic controllers can get paid, that federal workers are able to come back, the ones who were let go, that they get paid, that contractors get paid, that aviation moves forward,» Shaheen said in a «Fox and Friends» interview.

SHUTDOWN SHOWDOWN: DEMOCRATIC SENATOR STANDS FIRM AFTER DEFYING PARTY

Asked about the Democratic senators who bucked the party, Booker, who played Division One football at Stanford University, called for party unity.

«I played football, and that play is behind me. Now I want everybody back in the huddle, tighten your chin straps, because we’ve got to fight forward and the end zone, for me, is very simple. It is lowering people’s healthcare costs, lowering people’s grocery costs, lowering people’s energy costs, and getting an America that works for everybody, not just the wealthiest of the wealthy,» Booker said.

And Booker, who broke a Senate record with a 25-hour speech earlier this year as he took aim at President Donald Trump’s second-term agenda, said: «I’m a big believer, if you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.»

Democratic Sen. Cory Booker headlines an event at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics, in Manchester, N.H. on Nov. 14, 2025. (Paul Steinhauser/Fox News)

But he also lamented the increased animosity between Democrats and Republicans, saying that «the partisanship, as you know, bothers me, because it’s turned to tribalism.»

As he unsuccessfully ran for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, Booker spent plenty of time and made lots of friends in New Hampshire, which has held the first-in-the-nation presidential primary for over a century.

Booker, who is up for re-election next year in blue-leaning New Jersey, is seen by political pundits as a possible contender for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination, which is expected to be a crowded and competitive race.

«Of course, I’m thinking about it. Haven’t ruled it out. But I’m up on the ballot in New Jersey in ’26 and that is my focus,» Booker said.

After his Fox News interview, Booker headlined the latest «Stand Up New Hampshire Town Hall.» The speaking series, organized by top New Hampshire Democratic elected officials and party leaders, is seen as an early cattle call for potential White House contenders.

And later in the day, he gave the keynote address at a major fundraising gala for the New Hampshire Democratic Party.

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Booker called next year’s elections, when the Democrats will try to win back majorities in the House and Senate, «vitally important.»

«Don’t talk to me about ’28 until you show me where you stand and who you stand for in ’26. I stand for New Jersey. I stand for America and an America that works for everybody,» Booker emphasized.

A former associate of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been accused of being the mastermind behind a $100 million embezzlement scheme.

Tymur Mindich, who was once Zelenskyy’s business partner, was identified by Ukraine’s anti-corruption watchdogs as being the orchestrator of a scheme involving top officials and Ukraine’s state nuclear power company. Prior to the scandal, some feared Mindich’s growing influence over Ukraine’s lucrative industries that he had access to because of his ties to Zelenskyy.

Mindich allegedly exerted control over loyalists who then pressured contractors for Energoatom, Ukraine’s state-owned nuclear power company, demanding kickbacks to bypass bureaucratic obstacles. The requested kickbacks were reportedly as high as 15%.

Despite his history with Mindich, Zelenskyy was not implicated in the investigation. The Ukrainian president also issued sanctions against his former business partner once the anti-corruption findings were revealed.

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION STAYS SILENT AS MASSIVE UKRAINE CORRUPTION SCANDAL ROCKS ZELENSKYY’S INNER CIRCLE

On Nov. 11, Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) said that a group of individuals, including Mindich, «set up a major corruption scheme to control key state-owned enterprises,» including the country’s state-owned nuclear agency, the Kyiv Independent reported. The Ukrainian news outlet said that sources confirmed law enforcement searched properties tied to Mindich on Nov. 10, but he was tipped off and fled.

Mindich remains at large, with Politico reporting that he fled to Israel as the scheme unraveled and law enforcement zeroed in on him.

«Any effective actions against corruption are very needed. The inevitability of punishment is necessary,» Zelenskyy said in an evening address, according to the Kyiv Independent.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a Coalition of the Willing meeting in London on Friday, Oct. 24, 2025. (Chris J. Ratcliffe/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

TOP UKRAINIAN OFFICIALS IN ZELENSKYY GOVERNMENT SUBMIT RESIGNATIONS AMID $100 MILLION CORRUPTION SCANDAL

The NABU’s 15-month investigation allegedly involved 1,000 hours of wiretapping and resulted in 70 raids, the Kyiv Independent reported, citing the agency.

«What we were hearing only as rumors now has some evidence,» activist Tetiana Shevchuk of Ukraine’s Anti-Corruption Action Center told The Associated Press. «For a long time we have heard that Tymur Mindich is a shadow controller of the energy sector.»

In addition to Mindrich, Justice Minister Herman Halushchenko, who was Energy Minister from 2021 to 2025, was also raided, according to the Kyiv Independent, which cited sources.

Flamingo missiles are seen at Fire Point’s secret factory in Ukraine on Aug. 18, 2025. (Efrem Lukatsky, File/AP Photo)

Mindich was co-owner of Zelenskyy’s production company Kvartal 95, something that Shevchuk believes pushed him toward politics. The activist told the AP that Mindich «would have never been in politics, never been in a position of power or business without his connection to Zelenskyy, and this magnitude is worse because it’s happening during war time, and it is related to energy infrastructure at a time when Ukrainians don’t have electricity in their homes.»

This isn’t the only NABU investigation centered on Mindich. The anti-corruption agency is allegedly working on a probe into the former Zelenskyy associate’s dealings with Ukraine’s top drone manufacturer, Fire Point. However, NABU has yet to release its findings in that investigation.

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Fox News Digital reached out to Zelenskyy’s office for comment.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.