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From the notebook of a trademark-patent attorney
COULD MISS JANSET’S “2ND HONEYMOON” HOLIDAY IN THE MALDIVES TURN INTO A DISASTER?
People sunbathing on the snow-white beach were watching a woman dancing with the warm and calm waters in the shallow blue of the sea.
The light blue shallow waters were so calm, so clear and bright that if it weren’t for the small waves and tiny bubbles created by the woman’s strokes as she happily swam from side to side, one would think that the sea she was in wasn’t real but made of sparkling and transparent Murano blue glass.
The striking woman whose “ashy baby blonde” hair, tied with an elastic, drawstring hair clip, was someone we knew well. Ms. Janset.
Vacationing in the Maldives was something Ms. Janset had been dreaming of for years. When she couldn’t take a summer vacation because of her busy schedule, she and her husband started making vacation plans for the Maldives summer.
Plans gave birth to new dreams. Dreams opened up to new horizons with new plans…
A trip to the Maldives had to have a different meaning than an ordinary vacation. Janset had been together with her husband for many years. They had a very happy marriage. They had so many memories during this time together that despite the years that passed, their wedding that made her smile with happiness every time she remembered it, and their first honeymoon abroad were the best memories of her life.
Honeymoon!!! Of course, why shouldn’t they have a second honeymoon. This was a wonderful, exciting idea. The children were left with their grandmother. Their uncle was asked to take them to school. The organization was complete. Everything was ready for the second honeymoon.
The aerial view of this beautiful country, which was reached from Istanbul in 8 hours without sleeping, with excitement and joy, was incredible. The picturesque landscape challenged Janset Hanım’s perception of reality. It was January. When they set out, the streets of Istanbul were cold and covered in a snowy landscape that had fallen the day before and was now dirty. The traffic, as usual, was horrendous.
After a few unsuccessful attempts, they had come to the airport with a taxi that smelled of a mixture of cigarette butts and exhaust gases, splashing half-melted dirty snow on the pavements. After an 8-hour journey, they were in another world. There was no traffic or vehicles on the tiny islands. There was no need for them either. The tiny islands with white beaches and lush vegetation on the turquoise colored sea gave the feeling that they had arrived in a fairytale world under the bright sun.
Unfortunately, due to global warming, this paradise was expected to be submerged by 2050. Ms. Janset did not know this. There was nothing that could upset her.
As soon as she got off the plane, she felt her skin soften with the relaxing humid environment of the tropical climate in her body, and the stress she had accumulated in the crowded city and business life flowed from her body and mixed with the soil. Ms. Janset’s “2nd Honeymoon” fairytale was starting.
The Maldives was a country consisting of exactly 1200 islands, the islands of which were almost at sea level. The highest altitude was not more than a few meters. This group of islands with interesting geographical formations was a country consisting of small islands that could not be found on maps that were not big enough, 750 km away from the nearest land mass, Sri Lanka, south of India.
Although the tiny islands were covered with white sand beaches, their surfaces were covered with palm trees, coconut trees and a wide variety of tropical plants. I guess if you asked Janset Hanım to describe paradise, she could only describe the Maldives.
Janset Hanım and her husband settled into their hotel built with natural materials. They were happy. Being alone was very good for Janset Hanım. The holiday was going very well. They would swim in the sea a lot, walk among tropical plants, then retreat to their air-conditioned rooms and enjoy solitude and togetherness with a few glasses of wine. Everything was perfect.
Now, let’s go back to the beginning.
Leaving her husband at the hotel bar, Janset Hanım was enjoying the clear sea and swimming with small tropical fish.
Which…
A seaplane landed on their quiet island where their hotel was located. Then, a remarkable movement started. In front of the lobby, she noticed people in uniform, like the Turkish Police, with light blue short-sleeved shirts and epaulettes on their shoulders. She was curious. She interrupted her enjoyment of the sea and swam to the shore, to the island. The only hotel, or even structure, on the island was the hotel where they were staying. The shore was shallow. She stopped swimming and started walking in the water that came up to her knees. What could have happened? When she got out of the water, she noticed her husband among the uniformed police officers. Her husband loved talking to people. He was a cheerful, fun, social man. As she got closer, she realized that this was not the kind of place to talk.
What was that? Could the dark spots on her husband’s wrists be handcuffs?
She started running. Yes, her husband was waiting for Janset Hanım to arrive, his hands cuffed among the police officers. Janset Hanım was out of breath. “Oh my God!” she shouted. “What’s going on. How dare you handcuff him?” She grabbed her husband’s wrists to remove the handcuffs, but two policemen from the group stepped forward and grabbed Ms. Janset’s arms, pushing her back. She was shocked. “My darling, what’s going on? Why are you handcuffed?” she shouted. She started to cry.
“Calm down Janset, there’s just a misunderstanding. The police think I’m putting fake Maldivian Rufiya money on the market.”
“But how is that possible? Why do they think such a thing?”
“Janset, after you went swimming, I sat at the bar and had a drink. I paid for my drinks with cash dollars, but the bartender gave me the change in ‘Maldivian Rufiyas’. I left the hotel. I started walking. I saw the locals selling dried tropical flowers. I thought the flowers would look great with your hair. I bought them. I paid for them with the Rufiyas the bartender gave me.
” After listening to these words, Ms. Janset could no longer hold herself back. She could not hold back her tears, “Oh my God, why did this happen to us?” she was crying and muttering at the same time. If it were not for the police officers holding her arm, she would have fallen to the ground. She pulled herself together in a few minutes. Her husband continued to tell her story. “After walking around a little longer with the flowers in my hand, I started walking towards the hotel, the man I bought the flowers from came from behind me, shouting and grabbing my arm, a police officer next to him was saying something in a language I did not understand, he was obviously angry with me. The locals gathered around us. I asked what was going on in English, but they did not know English. The police officer he brought with him did not know English either. I could not understand what was going on. They were speaking “Divahi”, the Maldives’ own language. I did not understand anything. They called a team from the police station on another island nearby, fortunately, the team arrived by water plane and I understood what was going on.”
Janset Hanım turned to the one with the most stars on her shoulder among the police officers, hoping that he knew English, she asked, “Where are you taking my husband?” The chief with the big shoulders knew English. “Madam, we are taking action against your husband for counterfeiting. This is a crime that requires serious punishment. The “Magistrate Courts” on small islands cannot handle these cases. We are taking your husband to the capital. The “Superior Court” there will decide on your husband.”
Then, without further ado, she pointed to the police officers next to her. The police took Janset Hanım’s husband’s arm and put him on the seaplane attached to the small 10-meter platform next to the hotel, and in a very short time, they took off, leaving Janset Hanım behind in tears.
After watching the plane shrink even further on the horizon, Janset Hanım realized that she had to get her act together and do something. She quickly ran to the lobby and reception. She started asking the receptionist questions one after another. What would the process be like? What could she do? How could she follow her husband to the capital? and many other questions. What the receptionist told Ms. Janset became even more pessimistic. She learned that the Maldives was a republic governed by Sharia law. Although the provisions of Sharia law were relaxed on touristic islands and hotels, they were strictly applied in the interior and the capital. Even if she went to the capital, it would not be right and would cause harmful results for her to walk around the capital in the clothes she wore on the island or even to enter the courthouse. Moreover; in order to go to the capital, either a speedboat or a seaplane was needed. Transportation by speedboat would take a long time. The court would have already made its decision by the time she got to the capital.
There were no water planes on the island. The water plane had to be called from a large island. However, since these months were the peak tourist season, a reservation had to be made in advance. It was not easy to find an empty plane. Maldivian law considered counterfeiting a serious crime and usually the defendants were arrested during the trial and the trials were continued while they were under arrest.
There was nothing the receptionist could do. Janset Hanım started thinking very fast. She ran to her room. She picked up her phone, damn it, it had very little battery. The sockets in the Maldives were different from those in Europe and Turkey. You definitely needed an adapter to use the socket. If you didn’t have an adapter, you didn’t have a battery either. She looked for the adapter, looked around the room but couldn’t find it. Maybe it was her husband’s. She ran back to the lobby. She asked the receptionist to give her an adapter. Fortunately, the Maldivians were very helpful to tourists. The receptionist went into the room behind her. When she came out, she had her own adapter in her hand. She gave it to Janset Hanım. Janset Hanım sat in a corner in the lobby where there was a socket. The first person that came to her mind was the chairman of the board of the company she worked for. He was the most powerful man she knew. She knew someone in Ankara too. If she could help, he could do it. She pressed the call button, the phone rang… rang… Janset Hanım, please answer my president, please, please, she was muttering through her tears. The phone finally picked up. The president said in a sleepy voice, “What’s up Janset Hanım, Hello.” Yes, it was midnight in Istanbul. The president was asleep. Janset Hanım couldn’t help herself when she heard the president’s voice. She was on the other side of the world, all alone, having lost her husband, feeling helpless, and hearing the president’s reassuring, friendly voice, she burst into sobs again. She couldn’t speak.
The president was seriously worried
on the other end of the line. “Janset Hanım, calm down, what happened? Please tell me. Janset Hanım, Janset Hanım…” She kept repeating. The sound was already very bad. The internet was very weak, they could barely hear each other. Janset Hanım pulled herself together and quickly told the president what had happened. “Please, president, do something, I will be grateful to you for the rest of my life, believe me, I am in a very difficult situation.
The President said, “Ms. Janset, please calm down, I wish I could do something…of course I am ready to do my best. But…but I don’t know what I can do”, “what can be done…what can be done” the President began to mutter these words at long intervals. “Ms. Janset, believe me, I don’t know what I can do.”
“But why don’t you call the Ankara lawyer?”
“But President, what can the Ankara lawyer do to the problem in the Maldives?”
“You call. The Ankara lawyer, Janset, as you know,she solved our problems in unexpected moments and in unexpected ways. She has an incredible network abroad. And, believe me, there is nothing I can do, I can’t think of anything, I can’t think of anything else…”
Ms. Janset said, “Thank you very much President, I apologize to you. I was so desperate. I couldn’t think of calling anyone else. I am calling the Ankara lawyer immediately.”
She dialed the Ankara lawyer’s mobile number on her phone. Her heart was beating like it was going to jump out of her chest. This was her last chance. The phone was answered after a few rings. The lawyer lady was in front of her with her usual lively, reassuring voice. “Good night Janset Hanım, how are you, I hope everything is fine.”
“Lawyer lady, I apologize. for disturbing you at this late hour, but I am desperate, as you know, I came to the Maldives for a vacation with my husband. Then…”
She told her everything that happened one by one. “Please do something, you are my only hope.”
Lawyer lady; “Janset Hanım, first of all, calm down, it is good that you called me without wasting time. You said that they took your husband to the capital of the Maldives. I have a partner in the capital Male, he is a good lawyer. I am calling him right away, we are taking control of the situation immediately, do not worry. It is clear that your husband is innocent, I believe that we will save him. Be calm and trust me. I will inform you of any developments, good night.”
Janset Hanım felt a little relieved. “God, help the lawyer lady… Make her strong, please, God…”
Janset Hanım did not sleep a wink that day, and from evening to morning. She did not eat. She did not drink anything. She went to the platform where they took her husband and sat down. She looked at the horizon where the plane carrying her husband disappeared in the moonlight until morning. She prayed without stopping. She asked God to give strength to the lawyer lady from Ankara.
The whole night passed like this.
The sun had started to rise.
As you know, the morning hours when the sun rises are the hours when people succumb to sleep the easiest. Janset Hanım, on the platform she was sitting on, as the morning sun rose, had surrendered her eyes, swollen from crying for hours, to sleep when she started to dream that her phone was ringing, a phone call in her dream, Janset Hanım, who was between reality and sleep, got closer and closer to reality with each ringing sound, and finally woke up.
Yes, the phone was ringing. She answered her phone in a hurry, her hands shaking. The caller was a lawyer lady, with her usual cheerful voice, “Good morning Janset Hanım, congratulations, your husband’s innocence has been determined. The prosecutor’s office closed the file on you on the grounds that there was not enough evidence to file a lawsuit against you. The plane that was taking you to the capital Male just took off from Male this time to bring your husband to you. I think he will be with you in a few hours.”
Janset Hanım was about to go crazy with joy. First she screamed with joy. She thanked the lawyer lady repeatedly. And asked, “Lawyer lady, how was my husband’s innocence understood?”
“My partner in the Maldives contacted the hotel and obtained the camera recordings over the internet. The camera recordings clearly recorded the money exchange. He had the recordings deciphered in a studio in the capital Male and showed the detailed decipherment to the investigating prosecutor. The prosecutor was convinced. Because in the deciphered recordings, which were enlarged many times, it is clearly seen that the counterfeit money was given to your husband by the bartender. In the face of the evidence, the Male Superior Court, the Prosecutor’s Office, closed the file on your husband.”
“By the way, my partner Tedashi spoke to the hotel you were staying at. The hotel manager was very upset, they gave you a 2-week holiday as a gift to make amends for such an incident taking place in their hotel.” The Ankara-based lawyer lady laughed heartily after giving the last news. I don’t know if you will stay at the same hotel again. See you when you come Janset Hanım, get well soon again, have a nice holiday.” Janset Hanım expressed her feelings of gratitude to the lawyer lady again and hung up the phone.
She felt that she missed the cold of her country, the terrible traffic, the taxis that smelled of ashtrays and exhaust, and her children. She loved Istanbul, not that paradise. Its chaos, the people who held her hand and never left her alone, even if they were thousands of kilometers away.
She continued to sit on the platform without moving. She stared at the horizon with her teary eyes. Longing for her husband who would disappear from the horizon in a few minutes and return to the platform where he was…