Did you ever hear of a suitcase that left its possessor and took a trip all of its own? Well, it has been done!
Now, a dear friend of mine, Rastogi had a suitcase which he adored a great deal, and up until this Diwali the two got along splendidly together. But, evidently Rastogi did not do enough traveling to satisfy his suitcase— or, at least, did not travel to the right places–because at the close of the Diwali holidays when Rastogi carefully packed the little suitcase and started back to Jaipur from Mumbai, the little suitcase went off on a little spree.
Rastogi landed in Jaipur, but not the suitcase. It took a trip all of its own.
At the baggage claim, Rastogi waited patiently for the little suitcase. And waited. The noisy brats claimed their baggage with their mom fussing over them. The little suitcase still did not arrive. He waited. The elderly couple collected their small suitcase and left. Finally he was the only person at the carousel and yet the little suitcase was not to be seen. The floor manager enquired quietly of why Rastogi was loitering at the baggage claim carousel. On being told of Rastogi’s predicament, the manager enquired over his talkie and informed Rastogi that the last of the bags are done with and the little suitcase was nowhere to be found! “Maybe it will arrive by the next flight, sir. We’ll let you know and send it along when it does arrive!”
Rastogi taxied to his hostel and waited. Flights came and flights left, and no suitcase arrived. Days passed and Rastogi still waited. He became a bit weary of the two pairs of trousers and shirts he luckily had put in the hand baggage.
He had almost given up on meeting with the little suitcase. Then came a message! The little suitcase had been apprehended—all alone in Dum Dum, Kolkata, West Bengal! Rastogi had never been to Kolkata. What’s more, he had never heard of Dum Dum. But to Dum Dum the bag had traveled and was resting at a place which—well–which–wasn’t just the type of place in which Rastogi liked his suitcase to be seen.
Through special arrangements by the airline staff, the bag was retrieved and brought back to Jaipur.
But the little suitcase has never been the sane. Its travel has made a marked impression on it. It is not the same dutiful little suitcase either in content or physical appearance. The cruel world has changed it.
Now Rastogi is hunting a new bag–a loyal bag—one that likes traveling to the same places he does. That’s what happens when little suitcases take trips by themselves, or when people go to places they shouldn’t go.
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