Hamden grew up in the poorest section of Dubai near the Al Aweer Central Jail, on the outskirts of the city. This area has been historically associated with low-income communities due to its proximity to labor camps that house migrant workers employed in the many construction projects of this growing city.
Although Arabian men typically have large thin noses to better cool and moisten the hot dry air of the desert, Hamden’s nose was excessively large. The other kids at the Sheikh Rashid Bin Saeed Islamic Institute in Al Aweer teased and bullied him mercilessly. And it didn’t help that he was one of the brightest kids in his class, getting all As without having to try too hard.
“Freak!”, “Honker!” the kids both older and younger taunted him. “Smarty nose!”
Hamden became a recluse, or at least as much of a recluse a 13-year-old boy could be. He didn’t go to school functions, and prayed privately and avoided attending his mosque as much as possible because he knew his other classmates would be there.
His misery continued until the completion of his studies at the Islamic Institute.
When he was 15, he fell off his bicycle and got a cut that required stitches. His mother rushed him to the nearby Al Aweer Medical Clinic for treatment. While he was in the waiting room, he picked up a copy of The Robb Report magazine.
If you’ve never heard of it, The Robb Report has stories about luxury goods. Rolls Royce, Rolex watches, yachts, mansions, Bulgari jewelry, you name it. He was mesmerized by all the things that he had never seen or knew of.
He wanted to keep reading the magazine. To afford a subscription he made money sweeping streets in front of his neighbors’ homes. He helped carry customers’ produce from the Bloom Market, the largest fresh market in Dubai. He would do anything to earn a few dirhams until he’d saved the 360 dirhams for the magazine.
Every issue of The Robb Report brought him something that he only dreamt of – the good life. Occasionally he got to see some of the vast wealth of Dubai in person.
What most people don’t know is that Dubai itself has very little oil. One of the seven emirates that comprise the United Arab Emirates, Dubai became its financial capital. All that oil money had to be managed and the financial titans of Dubai took on that role.
Once in a while, Hamden would catch a glimpse of a Ferrari, Bugatti or Maybach speeding down the D83 highway near his home. He read about these super cars in The Robb Report and he knew that one day he’d have one.
But how would this poor kid with a big nose ever achieve that goal? Hamden pondered this night after night as he laid in bed. And then it hit him. Go where the money is. Get a job where the rich are and learn from them. Learn to know what they like; what they desire. Immerse yourself in their world and, with hard work, you will become one of them.
With the blessing of his parents, Hamden set off to the famous Dubai Gold Souk. The Gold Souk is basically like a huge outdoor shopping mall where over 300 individual stores compete to sell gold jewelry. If you’ve ever seen a butcher in a city storefront where large meat cuts and even whole pigs are hanging in the store window, the Gold Souk is just like that, except that it’s all gold chains, rings, and bracelets instead of meat. It’s not unusual for a store to display millions of dollars’ worth of gold in their window.
One morning he set out, taking the RTA route 11 bus to the Gold Souk. There were so many shops to canvas. The first day he visited 17 and returned home exhausted and dejected. But after a hot dinner and a good night’s sleep his batteries were charged for another day.
He had no luck after visiting 22 shops the second day and 19 the third day. Finally, on the fourth day, he hit pay dirt at the third shop he visited. The shop owner, Mohammed Faraidooni, saw something in the boy. When the owner asked how many shops he’d visited for a job, Hamden wasn’t sure. “Maybe 55 or 60” he blurted out.
Faraidooni was impressed by the boy’s initiative and offered him 28 dirhams an hour to do odd jobs in the store. Sweeping, fetching food and supplies, basically any task that the owner and his staff either disliked doing or felt was beneath them.
Hamden was elated. He was now a proud employee of Khalil Al Sayegh Jewelers!
He found the work pretty simple, mindless even. But what really excited Hamden was the jewelry, the shop’s sales staff and its customers. Especially the women customers. While men seemed to want to buy the biggest, most expensive pieces, the women were generally more discerning. They often shopped for smaller, more demure pieces that one could describe as “classic.” Tasteful earrings and jewelry as opposed to the big honking pieces the men purchased to impress their wives and girlfriends.
And, another thing he liked about the women coming into the shop was how they smelled. That big nose of his was, apparently, quite sensitive.
As time passed and he became more familiar with the customers, he became bold enough to speak with some of the women. That is, except the few women who wore burqas. Being a liberal and very cosmopolitan city, the religious followings of Dubai were more laisse faire. Each to his own and no judging those Muslims who were more or less devout than one’s self. But a burqa was like a big red STOP sign.
Many of the women who were regular customers looked on Hamden as a charming boy. A bit cute, even with that big nose. Always being respectful, Hamden felt more and more comfortable asking women the name of the perfume they were wearing.
Over time, Hamden started memorizing the various perfumes that came into the shop.
One of the most common perfume brands was Chanel. This was not surprising due to the seven Chanel boutiques that existed in the city of Dubai. Not to mention the two dozen other retailers in town that sold Chanel products.
Hamden began to specialize in Chanel. He could tell the rose-jasmine scent of the Coco Mademoiselle from the galbanum gum and iris scent of Number 19. He could distinguish the abstract scent of Number 5 from the jasmine, orange and tuberose of the Gabrielle Chanel.
He became so familiar with Chanel products, that he applied for a job at the Chanel Fragrance and Beauty Boutique in The Dubai Mall. While he was nervous, just as you and I would be, he was confident in his knowledge of the Chanel company and its products, especially the fragrances.
He got the job!
His title was Fragrance and Beauty Advisor. After his two-week training period, he set out to be the top seller in the store. It took him several months, slowly building a customer base that generated repeat sales.
His supervisors rated him a top employee. Hamden was happy with his work but he wanted more and started looking for other positions in Chanel where he could make use of his expertise with fragrances.
Finally, he spotted the perfect position – Fragrance Developer. The job’s description sounded perfect and, *BONUS*, the position was at the corporate headquarters in Paris.
Armed with superior job reviews and recommendations from his supervisors, Hamden applied for the job. He was contacted by Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, the Director of Fragrance Research and Development who scheduled a ZOOM call.
Monsieur Brillat-Savarin was quite formal, and after a 30-minute interview, Hamden had impressed him with his knowledge of Chanel products. After the call Hamden was hopeful.
After 9 days of excruciating expectations, Hamden received an email inviting him to an in-person interview in Paris. Yippee! He was ecstatic. The poor boy with the big nose was going to Paris!
His airplane arrived at Orly Airport. He was met by a driver in a Citroen who took him to the Chanel world headquarters on Avenue Charles de Gaulle, Neuilly-sur-Seine. The very modern seven story building was imposing. The blue glass windows obscured the activities and trade secrets within.
His interview was with Olivier Polge, the house perfumer for Chanel. This was a big deal. This man created several recent fragrances after having succeeded his father as house perfumer in 2015.
On the way to his interview, he was escorted down a long hallway where various pictures and portraits of founder Coco Chanel and previous perfumers Ernest Beaux, Henri Robert, and Jacques Polge were prominently hung.
He was introduced to Monsieur Polge, who was a middle-aged, slight, dark-haired man. Fortunately for Hamden, Polge was fluent in English, as Hamden’s French was rather limited.
After chatting for a while and answering questions, Polge led Hamden to what looked like a laboratory. On a lab table were a series of small bottles with eye droppers that contained liquids of various colors.
Each bottle had a number from one to 10.
Mr. Polge took a small piece of gauze and placed a few drops of bottle number one on it.
“What is ze fragrance?” asked Polge.
After taking a deep breath of the wonderful sent, Hamden replied “Coco Mademoiselle, sir.”
“Correct”
Hamden correctly identified the next six as Chance Eau Fraiche, Gabrielle Chanel L’eau, Comete, Chance, No. 19, and Coco Noir.
Number eight threw him for a loop. He thought how can this be? This one is definitely not Chanel. But he correctly identified it as a Chanel competitor, Maison Francis Kurkdjian Baccarat Rouge 540.
Scent number 9 was so obvious that he felt it must be a trap. “It’s the scent of a rose, sir.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes sir.”
Polge handed him the gauze with number 10, the final sample. “And zis one?”
Hamden was very confused. It was the same scent as number 9. “It’s rose again, sir.”
Polge looked at him with compassion. “You need to further develop your sense of smell. As you said, ze last two were the scent of a rose, but they were very different. One was the scent of a white rose, ze other of a red rose. Each rose color has a slightly different scent. To master ze art of fragrance design you must be able to recognize zese.”
“Reapply for ze position when you’re ready. You have promise but you need to mature your sense of smell.”
Hamden was crushed. He was certain that he had the ability and the talent to do the job. How would he achieve this?
This question and others bothered him during the seven-hour fight to Dubai.
When he arrived home, he knew what he had to do: seek guidance from his Imam. Imam Muhammad Kunniyat was a wise and kind man who Hamden respected.
“As Salam u Alaikum” Imam Kunniyat greeted Hamden. “Peace be unto you as well” replied Hamden.
Hamden described his predicament and asked for help.
“You must see Imam Musa” was the reply.
Yousef Musa is a Muslim cleric and shaman who practices Sufism, the mystical form of Islam.
Musa listened to Hamden and explained the solution to his problem.
“The human senses are each quite powerful. But each takes power from the others when used. Like the blind man who can hear the caterpillar eating the leaves of the Ghaf tree, so shall your sense of smell be greater when your eyes are deprived of sight.
“I will trick your senses into thinking you’ve lost your sight.”
When Hamden expressed his displeasure with losing his sight, Musa assured him that the process was totally safe. Hamden agreed.
They set their plan in motion. Hamden was able to take a leave of absence from Chanel and Musa rearranged his home to make it easy for a “blind” Hamden to move around. Hamden would stay with Musa for several weeks until his sense of smell became more refined.
On the day that the procedure was to begin, Musa put herbal drops in Hamden’s eyes to protect them. He then wrapped a blindfold cloth around Hamden’s head.
A stick served as Hamden’s guiding tool, much the same purpose as a “white cane” would serve the blind in the western world.
Hamden bumped around Musa’s home, stubbing his toes often. But soon he was negotiating the home easily. It was almost like he could picture the layout of the home in his mind’s eye.
As his confidence built, Musa began taking him for walks outdoors. The sounds were much more nuanced. He’d hear things that he would normally not hear or would ignore. Things like a dog barking in the distance or the engine of a car that was badly in need of an overhaul.
After three weeks, Musa tried an experiment. He was able to obtain rose fragrances from an online store and had several from different rose colors: red, white, yellow, pink and lavender.
Hamden was easily able to identify them all as rose. But he could not distinguish between them.
Over the next several weeks, Musa tested Hamden’s ability to discern scents. Eventually, Hamden could honestly distinguish them. Then in week nine Musa switched their order. This surprised Hamden but after another week he could identify them all, regardless of order.
Musa kept him blindfolded for two more weeks to ensure that his olfactory abilities were set and he then took off the blindfold.
Even in the darkened room, Hamden was blinded by the light. As his eyes adjusted, he realized that he had all his faculties but with an enhanced ability to detect fragrances.
Hamden stayed with Musa for a few more days. Every day, several times a day, Musa would retest Hamden.
After a week, they both noticed that Hamden’s enhanced fragrance detection was faltering.
At the end of the second week of having his vision back, all the advantages of the temporary blindness were gone.
Hamden was despondent. Months of his life wasted. For what? He was unable to eat or sleep. He fell into a deep depression from which Musa could not rouse him. He turned to drink.
One night in a drunken rage, Hamden grabbed a pair of scissors from his desk drawer and repeatedly stabbed himself in the eyes, blood and vitreous fluid streaming down on his white starched shirt.
* * *
Hamden sat in a comfortable leather chair in the office of his host. He looked healthy and perfectly normal, save for the blue Swarovski crystal prosthetic eyes which, although were quite beautiful, still looked unnatural.
“Congratulations on achieving a perfect score. This is even more impressive as I added a few more scents to your trial.”
“Merci, Monsieur Polge” said the new assistant to the house perfumer for Chanel.
Love the story, and all your writings!