His Struggling Mind!

(Part - 1 of “A Tale of a Traveler Bag”)

It was months after the global pandemic, which had almost reset the Earth. His days were simply same after he had one last laugh on his work, where he didn’t take me. Times went like this: he would wake up, bath, have a cookie or two, has a sip of water, some phone calls, meets his house mate, looks into his phone and laptop, in between where he goes out intermittently, probably to cook and eat. But once in a while, he comes with a bag full of things, probably he went shopping.

There were days where he sang and danced out of happiness, sang out of despair, cried silently (which I caught of course). He got advised, he advised people, while struggling with himself. From what I knew, his plans which stayed with him longer than me had been slowly fading, with every other day he pauses his eyes at the laptop. I had never seen him getting so sadly desperate in my six odd months with him.

I could even remember the day he got me from those pack of some of my fellows, and his dad was scolding him for getting me (probably he saw me as a big shelf, I never knew). During all those times, he was so optimistic and optimising people who doubted his abilities. We traveled on a train, I got stacked, traveled on a flight with some transit points, which I would remember forever. Then, we reached a new home, where we had welcoming people with great hearts.

Back to now, him, being the worst version of himself, got desperate and doing something with his laptop and had a little smile. From what I had heard, he probably got some idea for implementing his study abroad plan, and sure I was so happy on the prospect of flying to another home soon. It was probably too soon for me, as both of us would have to wait atleast till the February of the next year to fly again.

Among all those internal struggles, a bigger one was the prospect of even going home as multiple trips got cancelled (from whatever I’d overheard). Also, these guys saw someone spoke through the laptop, after which these guys got sarcastically pessimistic, that frightened me a lot.

Then, some days later, he was too enthusiastic. I sensed a tinge of positivity on his actions. Yes, finally he got an opportunity to go home (that means I can board an airplane as well). This was evident, as he started stuffing me with things and clothes after the shopping day. But, “Wait!” I prayed, “This should be like our journey back here”.

It was probably days before the move back, and suddenly one night, he started crying loudly abruptly. “What?” I thought, “Oh! May be we’re not going back this time too!”. I was truly shocked to know (probably by this time, you guessed it right, I overheard), as he wept, saying someone passed away. I was probably not sure whom it was, but I had prayed that it shouldn’t be someone from his family, which I got wrong. My mind (if I had one) got weird, memories of the man who once called me too big for their need.

With his worst version getting emotionally worse (that’s a lot of mental struggle for a living being, I was a bag thankfully), he prepared for the day of “The Home Coming”. He continued packing everything he brought into me, and finally locked me the night before the trip.

It was not so much time, suddenly the lights shone, indicating that he had woke up. With the state of mind he was in, he did look a bit hippie, with too long hair (he didn’t go to the barber citing the pandemic), and his usual beard. He had put on the same clothes he had on our arrival - An orange tee, a blue jean, and, ahh I forgot, he wore on his blue thermal suit; I had the other one.

He dragged me along with another smaller pal of mine and his shoulder bag. The house mate was traveling with us as well - so, I got some buddies with me till the airport atleast. These guys bid adios to the home owners who dropped us, and after a ticket check, we got there to grab our seats in the cargo. Atleast that was probably I had thought, but we never know what comes next.

Shhhhhhhh…., I got too exhausted and emotional telling you my story, I will continue my adventures on the next part soon. Until then, stay safe, stay home (like me) and have your masks on when you venture out.

Yours,

His Travel Bag…