The Cologne Theory

That was a Friday forenoon in Istanbul. The two teen boys Ajmal and Imthiyas were busy selling their cologne as usual near the gate of a famous mosque in Istanbul. The two were tough competitors to each other. They bought cologne from different sellers who prepared perfumes with different fragrances like sandal, jasmine and lavender. The boys hung a wooden block tied with a strap around their neck. The cologne bottles were arranged in the wooden block. They had a sample bottle in hand for the people to test their fragrance. Nobody could literally pass through the gate without being pursued by either of the boys. They pursued every person who crosses the gate no matter whether they buy or not. They tried to convince every person as though that was the only purpose of their lives. They never took time to feel disappointed for a no, nor to feel excited about someone buying cologne. Once a sale is done, the next second is to start pursuing the other customers. They almost seemed to have no emotions but only a serious sense of competition with each other.

A rich looking slender man in green kurta and white pajama came over and asked for samples from both Ajmal and Imthiyas to compare and buy the best. The two eagerly gave their sample bottles. Both the sample bottles were almost full. Selling a single bottle would give the seller a 15 Turkish Lira profit which is enough for three good meals of the day. Despite the competition, the two boys deep inside their heart wanted the slender man to buy from both of them. This care for the competitor is “Saturn-ring care”

“The ring around the Saturn is filled with rocks and dusts rotating around the Saturn because of a virtual complementary gravity created. Disturbing the ring in one side of the Saturn would collapse the gravity, consequently the whole ring would fall off. This is psychologically applicable in humans where we develop a care for our long term competitors though we do not agree with them. The death of a political leader would mentally affect his longtime rival more than the dead’s kin.”

The slender man rubbed each cologne on each of his wrists and smelled. He looked confused as if he could not judge. So he turned towards a shop, waved his hands and called his friend loudly. The boys turned towards the shop out of reflex. They saw no one responding to the slender man’s call. Their eyes searched for the kind of person the rich slender man would have been accompanied with. When they turned back, the slender man was running at a distance with their sample bottles. The boys could not understand anything for a moment and looked at each other. Immediately they shouted at him, sworn and were broken. Ajmal without much delay started running behind the slender man. He was so determined to catch the slender man and get back his sample bottle. Imthiyas instead, thought of his own fate, opened a new bottle and started selling what he had. Ajmal after running for some distance realized that Imthiyas was not running with him. This broke the Saturn-ring care and he decided to get both the samples for himself once he catches the slender man. This double profit made him double the pace of his run. He caught the slender man over a mile and with the help of some people gathered around he got his sample and Imthiyas’ sample back. He was so excited that he got his sample back and also a bottle almost full of cologne. Selling that even for half the rate would give him a huge money he had never had for himself. He already started planning on what he should buy with that money. He always wanted that feathered England yellow cap from Bazar near Maiden’s tower, have pasta in Süleymaniye pasta corner and buy the green kurta showcased in Jennifer’s Hamam. By thinking so, he reached the Mosque gate and saw Imthiyas selling his cologne as a monopoly without any competition. Imthiyas had sold cologne bottles more than any other days. He also gained some trustworthy customers. Ajmal during his chase behind the cunning slender man lost his customers to Imthiyas whose only aim was to attract customers.

Correlating the theory:

In the story, the colognes are like the trust and gratitude we express towards people. Customers are the people around us and the slender man portrays those who betrayed us or did hurt us. Be an Imthiyas and continue to express trust and gratitude towards people which will definitely help gaining true people. Revenge on betrayers and giving back to the haters what (we think) they deserve are just the virtual relief. Continue spreading the positivity. Keep smiling despite any odds. Worrying about haters would only make you lose the people you could have gained during the so-called bad times.

Keep Smiling 🙂