Memoirs of a bag – Sangeeta Agarawal

Foreword

A little bit of history ...... I work in a high tech company and live as a paying guest with a local family. My parents and siblings live in India. My sister dreams of a life is US. She is also a software engineer in India. And she was the one who had bought the bag. I used to live with an middle aged american lady who had a teenage daughter, Angie. The bag was my parting gift to Angie. We decided that each person will keep the bag for a couple of months and then pass it on to a person very dear to her. The condition was that you would use the bag everyday and let it represent you with your pins, drawing or similar objects. The story is written when i was clearing the bag to give to Angie.

Main Story

I like everything that my sister likes. If she picks up a shirt, I think it's the best one in the shop. Exactly the same thing happened for this bag. She liked it, I wanted it too. We found another bag, almost like hers for me. I really liked my bag. The color and style were simple yet tasteful. It hung a little below my waist, which made me feel feminine. It was big enough to store everything a backpack could, yet more graceful. All in all, it was a perfect. I organized my bag. Apart from the regular essentials, it had my cosmetics, electronics, emergency items, leisure reading book and a small notebook. As days grew into months, more papers, books, and an assortment of items made home in the bag. Blissfully oblivious to the increasing weight, I carried it everyday till the time the strap gave way! I tried to fix it, but it kept breaking again.

My sister sent me her bag. I was very happy to get a fresh start, especially with her bag. This time I took care to periodically check for non essential items in my bag. It's like life. We need to keep track and organize ourselves. And lighten our burden, so we can be free to enjoy new encounters. There may be things from our past that we may not be able to throw away, but we need not carry them on us all the time. We can save them in a peaceful place, away from everyday chaos. This bag has become a part of my personality. People see it as part of my composition. I see myself with it too, whether I'm dressed in casual jeans or a beautiful dress. It has carried me through busy days and fun days, happy moments and lonely moments, and everyday rhetoric. It knows my public life, my private life and all aspects of my personality. It represents some things I stand for with its pins, key chains and bands. It is my signature in a way. As the time approaches for me to pass on the bag to the next owner, I feel a little overwhelmed.

I'm happy that Angie is going to carry my signature and merge hers on top. I feel more connected to her. And she feels connected to me and my sister back in India, an invisible thread extending into a different world. At the same time, I'm sad that I need to find myself again with a new bag. Sometimes I'm curious what it'd be like when Angie uses this bag. What are the secrets this bag is going to know about its owners? It makes me wonder . how much do we really understand people and how much do we assume? Even if today you know what they are made of, is it really who they are going to be always? As we connect and loose people in our ever evolving worlds, we may never know anyone completely. But we add something to our lives and their lives. And this dust we shed on each other is what connects us next time our paths align in this cosmos, no matter how far apart or after how long. So long, bag!

After thoughts

When i started this chain of sharing my bag, i didn't think it was of any value. But it helped bring some lives closer. Angie had not lived with her divorced mother Leslie since last fifteen years. She wasn't even on talking terms with Leslie till some time before this incident. When Angie decided to gift the bag to Leslie, it was a big expression of her feelings towards her. For the first time, she had accepted her mother as a person meaningful in her life. It brought them so much closer and helped heal their hurting hearts. I was present the day Angie handed the bag to Laurie, and there were streams of tears flowing down Laurie's eyes. It was a beautiful moment. The bag is now with Laurie, till she decides to pass it on to someone special ....