Which is your favourite?

I am usually a very blissful person. Anybody who knows me can vouch that I do not exactly fit into 'Man, The Thinker' shoes. I am not contemplative or introspective, not argumentative or critical, not opinionated or overtly analytical. I cant spend too much of my life scrutinizing and worrying about this or that - I do my best for the desired outcome and it usually works out well.

So I was very surprised when I found myself mulling over a ridiculously simple question that I got asked during the weekend. Not just plain thinking, I was thinking real hard. It consumed my mind for some time before I slept and also after it. The question was - which is your favourite perfume?

Now that is a very innocuous question. Something that most of the perfume-happy mankind (oh, have they changed it to personkind now?!) can answer in a jiffy. After all, it is your favourite - something you dig, something that makes you not just happy, but the happiest - the supreme feeling. And imagine the enquirer's (lets just call him Mr.Twister) surprise when I had multiple answers to what was clearly not a multiple choice question.

Now let me tell you something about Mr. Twister. He is razor-sharp, energetic and engaging. Can be somewhat aggressive at times, but has an amazing clarity of thought and an abundant capacity for dialogues. And oh, how can I forget, he is extremely clever with words.

So while Mr Twister questioned and cross-questioned and grilled and interrogated and probed me, my mind blanked out. Tried deliberating again and again. No answer to Mr.Twister's satisfaction. I felt dumb. Big time! I felt run over too, but that's secondary. The problem was I couldnt come up with ONE answer. How could I not! That kept me occupied long after our conversation had ended.

There is absolutely no problem in NOT having favourites, but I was kinda stumped as to why I could not answer the absence of one, especially in the perfume world which I know considerably well. I am aware of the ones that I have used. And I have already set my mind on which ones to buy next. In my humble opinion, that would have sufficed; but it clearly looks like you need to aggregate your thoughts (a la data warehousing), make a list of 'likes' in descending order and store it in some part of the brain ready in anticipation of a question like this!

Then realization struck (later of course). I have never bought the same perfume twice! Buying something over and over would automatically classify it as a favourite and I have never done it before. It is not because I hadnt liked the fragrances. It was simply because I like experimenting. My philosophy is simple - I hunt, I like, I buy. But never ever the same perfume twice. Why waste money on something that you've already tried. As simple as that. Which translates into - all the 20-25 brands that I have used till date are either all winners or there is none.

Well, the perfume talks ended amicably and are now behind us. And I am looking forward to spending more time with Mr. Twister and his tad-acerbic-tad-comic wit in the near future. Of all the exciting outcomes that will happen because of it, I am sure of one - it will make me start thinking about things that I have never thought needed thinking!

Now, is that good or bad?