Travelling light has different connotations for different people
Oh, how I wish I could travel light! Just carry a briefcase or a handbag, hop into the plane, train or bus, dump the valises in the compartment or on the rack overhead, slump into my seat, stretch my legs, close my eyes and quite unbothered, get carried away dreaming of everything pleasant under the sun.
Travelling light has different connotations for different classes of people. A beggar, for instance, is the lightest traveller as he carries only a bowl even while moving across the national border. Menial workers, poorly paid as they are, are busy making both ends meet and therefore travel ticket-less with minimum baggage, which does not impede their escape.
The lower-middle class, entangled in the web of inflation, scarcely save enough for a rainy day, pay through their nose for a travel ticket and carry only what their frugal savings can buy. It is the upper-middle class and the affluent who, with all their ill-gotten graft money, are desirous to stamp the mark of their status on their hosts, and are confronted with the option to travel heavy or light.
The exercise of this available option depends basically on three prime factors: gender, weather and custom. The male, though more muscular than the weaker sex, has the privilege of travelling light for one simple reason: exceptions accepted, he is less fussy about appearance and therefore has fewer items to carry. Even if he forgets a thing or two (trousers excluded), he can go about his business in a normal manner without raising the eyebrows of his contacts. The fair sex is most unfair to their own species in a similar case, particularly if she happens to stay overnight. Appearance of the lady next day in the same dress, makeup or hairstyle is attributed to her poor taste, mediocre status or IQ’s nadir. The choice of items for the fair sex thus multiples and directly affects the weight and freight of baggage, which is no case can be classified as ‘light’.
The second factor is weather. Reliance on weather pundits is futile as they are more uncertain than the weather which shrinks or swells your baggage, depending upon your propensity to get drenched, suffer heatstroke or catch a cold. While summer may give you second thoughts, monsoon and winter subject you to the law of necessity, which in turn deprives you of the honour of being awarded the ‘light traveller’ medal.
The third factor, custom (not Customs whose sniffing nose and torturous tariffs are tormenting deterrents), is the hallmark of your status, if at the destination you have acquaintances, friends or relatives waiting to receive you. On safe landing, you are instantaneously warmly embraced and as you are eyeless at the back of your head, the embracer hugs you heartily with his eyes on the baggage behind you. Alas, travelling light in such a case becomes a stigma which can only be effaced not by subduing to the custom of gifting, but by uploading your passion for travelling light, come what may!
Nevertheless, the advantages of travelling light are many: tussle with taxicabs is avoided; porters are dispensed with; fellow passengers are placated; space for tucking the baggage is ample; pilferage is prevented and above all, such a traveller gives the impression of a touring bureaucrat or a daring dignitary. The disadvantages, though not many, are worth enumerating: Siesta may end in a nightmare (baggage stolen); if left unattended while you go to the washroom it may even invoke the wrath of the bomb disposal squad. Moreover, travelling light means to inconvenience yourself for other’s convenience. You may not agree with this statement, but once you decide to travel light, you initiate the process that tests your sense of selection vis-a-vis the time factor. You begin sorting things out from an assortment of everything movable you own, and become tense as the departure date and time approaches. The cycle of forgetfulness, panic, hypertension slowly sets in and though you may have packed up all you need, you are liable to forget a strip of medicine, a pair of matching socks, a brooch, a knock down a bottle of perfume or even a trivial piece like a comb. When you discover the “missing link” you feel depressed, curse yourself for the lapse and look lost. The sense of loss remains a bitter taste in the mouth and sweeps clean all the other advantages of travelling light.
