On bags , Fondly

There are countries that wait for us to come and learn things.

 In December 2008, I landed at the Male Airport (Maldives). It was a family visit. Another two uncles joined us. One of them is already living in Maldives. He had already prepared a part of his apartment for us to stay. His apartment was away in another island. We had to take a boat to cross the sea to get there. It was nearly an hour’s journey. All got off. There were two controller officers at the jetty. One was already dozing off. May be he was tired after a long day’s work. It was 2’o clock in the morning. The jetty was crowded with many other passengers, mostly foreigners, who have just landed on the Maldives. Like us. I was called by one of the officers to check the passport before entering the island. The bags were heavy to carry. I left them and walked up to the counter.

Passport verified. I came back. The luggage was there. But the bag I wore on my shoulders was gone. 

That bag was a gift from Australia. It was an expensive one, I know. To lose a Sony digital camera, a pair of expensive shoes and a few clothes will give others a mini-heart attack .That’s natural. People always worry about lost things. Especially expensive things.  Never mind. There were a few clothes left in the other luggage. That was enough for me. I was happy. I didn’t bother  informing the counters about this even when others wanted to. The one who took it away wouldn’t have known what was inside the bag. May be my bag was the lightest of all bags that were there. May be he was badly in need of a bag. May be bags were too expensive for him to afford. When he learns about the digital camera and the shoes, he will keep them for himself or sell them for money. Leave the clothes away. The bag won’t come back.

It took me all the way to Maldives to realize that bags are expensive. And that bags become an essential part in life, to carry things from one place to another. Bags come in different shapes. They come in different prices. The one who has a greater need for a bag will mind anything. Whether it is big, small, cheap or expensive doesn’t matter as long as the bag does what it is supposed to be doing.

Six years have passed.  I was reminded of bags again when Mr. Nawaz, a wonderful teacher and a college comrade lost his bag last Friday. He told me the bag was from Korea and it had a laptop which was bought in Dubai. He had not known they were gone until he started reading the brief of a case two days after, which he was supposed to take up the next morning at the Commercial High Courts. This is what he told me.

Pic source: Internet

‘I knew it was completely gone. Who would think of giving back a laptop. But I thought I should get it back if the money I spent on them were legally earned.  Above everything I had a good sleep. I didn’t make a fuss about losing it. We shouldn’t worry about losing little things like bags and laptops. We never know what else is left for us to lose. The interesting thing is there are people not worth losing unlike bags. We don’t want them to go away. I don’t know when we will learn to let go people. ‘

Like everything else, we lose bags. Bags get dirty. Bags tear. Bags break. Bags get misplaced, and found again. Sometimes not.

Some Sundays are cleaning days. On such a rare cleaning day, I found a few big luggage, and bags left inside a room. They were covered in dust. But looked almost perfect. I took one by one out. Opened them. There was nothing left for me to see. Just did it while dusting them off. There was one black bag which had so many labels on it. Some were hotel check ins and others were flight check ins and departure labels. Dates were still visible. They reminded me of nights spent in hotels. Things I saw. The people I met and what happened.

 Bags have a past. They tell how things were. They also have a future. We pick up bags; carry them everywhere we go. They are rich travelers. Bags help us carry everything. Everything that is too heavy sometimes. Like all burdens and problems that we cannot get rid of. And still we ignore them. Beggars carry bags. At least a shopping bag. Bags are safe to keep their possessions. Because, they have no home. 

Sometimes I think, bags are great.

(Featured in "The Nation" newspaper on the 13th September 2014)