Thursday, December 10, 2015

Backpacking the old baggage

Waking up in the morning is a big pain-point for most of us . I am no exception .  And with a backpack on your shoulders its not anywhere close to be fun .

Early Delhi winter morning as I was walking down the alley I saw small children , aged between 7-11 years all decked up in school uniforms with neatly done blazers and ties ( girls in skirts though ) and a good enough filled backpack and a water bottle around the neck  , usually leaning over to mommy dear and thinking why in the world is this happening to me. 

Early morning thoughts are also a time to reflect back upon how you as a person have come all this while.  I recollected my old school days when mom used to wake me up in the sweetest possible way , brush and bath and then dress me up . Waiting for the school bus to come I used to sleep on her lap mostly. And the school bag , it was heavy then also .

As time progressed , I went to college and the school bag became a refined version yet the mornings remain more or less same . Waking up late night to finish the engineering assignments and then trying hard to set 2 alarms and telling roommates and neighbors to wake me up on time , scenarios remained the same.  

Missing breakfast mostly and then entering into an early morning Engineering Drawing lecture or  System Analysis and Design session were the worse things to do in the mornings.  And then I used to think school was so much fun .

Further up in life when I entered the arena for my Masters it was a sea change . The backpack came along with the laptop and an extra carry-bag for presentations and notes started coming along .  Work and studies used to start post 1 am and then the market research and marketing management lectures started at 9 am . The breakfast usually was good though I hardly had it .  Engineering was better , right .

If you see in all these journeys there is a common thread . Besides me , the backpack .This is how we have become as humans . We carry old deeds , karmas and the old baggage as the youth of my generation calls ,  with us all through out . In my working corporate life the backpack is still there with more number of wires .




As I sat through the Chef's table for a Saturday brunch with Chef Veena’s signature Yum Namuang Salad made using Raw Mango , all the years gone by flashed . And all I could think was it was a fun time at those stages in life.

Could I have done it better ? Yes and may be no . But then who cares . The little kids from the porch were coming back from school all charged up to take the world head-on. 

Its good being a kid.

Like they say  :  “You really didn't see the sadness or the longing unless you already knew it was there. But that was the trick, wasn't it? Everyone had their disappointment and their baggage; only, some people carried it in their inside pockets and not on their backs.” 



2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well said, and beautifully written piece. We all carry that backpack, depends on the attitude we carry it with. :)

Unknown said...

Nice!

I wuld like to add- ur past baggage is just like a glass of water in your hands, the longer you hold it, the heavier it gets.
Only keep memories not burden!

Aloha on the Ganges

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