I saw a kid going to school yesterday. He was about three and a half feet tall, by my best estimate. And his school bag could not have weighed less than 5 kgs. It was sagging with weight and splitting at the seams with bulkiness, and its straps pressed into his small, fragile child shoulder blades- a giant bird with claws digging into his shoulders, landing all its weight on him and trying to take him down. I suddenly realized that the sling bag I was carrying was nearly 3 kgs heavy, and pressing rather viciously into my shoulder blade too.
Ma once gave me a pearl from her treasure of wisdom. She said, have you noticed how, while travelling from one place to another on a bus or train, some people hold on to their bags in their hands or on their backs? They might as well put them down while they are on the move, and pick them up when they reach their destination, but they resolutely clutch their baggages and add weight to their bodies, and themselves.
The metaphor extended, according to her, to the concept of leaving set your troubles down when you sleep - that just before you melt into your dreams, put all your worries, troubles and hassles on a shelf, and don't let your precious sleep be disturbed with unfair blame and thoughts that it doesn't deserve to be disturbed with.
There's a reason babies sleep the way they do: they don't ponder about things they can't control.
