In Love with my Baggage
By virtue of my profession of being
a recruiter, I spend more days in a hotel room than my own rented house in
Chennai. I have come to travel more in the last two years of my Life than I
have travelled in the whole of
the quarter century of my Life!
I am not someone who has enjoyed
travelling from quite early on. But now, a bit of wander lust has set in. There
is an interesting thing about travelling. As much joy there is in seeing new
places, when you are away for quite long, one looks for a hint of familiarity.
This might be the reason why people prefer hotel chains to those that are
standalone. Apart from the hotels, there is one constant companion for a
wanderer. His/her baggage! My slice of familiarity is my American Tourister
bag.
There is one more thing about
travel. The smallest of discomforts can turn in to a major hassle. One such is
tugging along the baggage where ever you go. In my case, I frequent most of the
railway stations and airports. Quite often, one can’t help but feel like
pulling along a bullock cart. Worse is the case when the baggage needs to be
pushed around. One feels like a vegetable seller on wheels.
And enter, the four wheeled bag! I fell in love with it the moment I saw it. It just glides along
ever so smooth. The effort required to move it around it near to zero. Moreover,
it looks pleasant on the eyes too. Akin to that quote about friends, it chooses
to glide beside you. Neither behind nor ahead, thanks to its wheel design.
Coming back to the familiarity bit, Once
I reach my hotel room, the sight of my baggage puts me at ease. The fact that
there is something/someone that goes through the same journey lends me a sense
of calm. Isn’t it the same with emotional baggage too? Even though we all love
to shed our baggage, there is a sense of familiarity we develop towards our
problems. We know how to deal with them. We know when they will crop up and how
to pacify them.
Some problems lend us a sort of
identity too. We would have grown with them. They would have moulded us in more
ways than one. There would have been times when they would have made us weak
but only to emerge stronger. Over time, we learn to handle our baggage thereby
becoming a better person. It is in a way true when they say our problems maketh
us.
But yes, one needs to know when the
baggage becomes a tad bit too heavy for comfort and hesitate not to shed the
extra pound.
Arun
Babu.
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