May your pockets be heavy and heart light
It’s the peak of summer but seasons don’t last forever, so take heart. My thoughts go back to the beginning of March when spring knocked at the threshold with gay gaiety as winter wrapped up the blanket of chill and fog. The wardrobes were rearranged and as I folded the woollens to be kept in bed boxes and took out the spring-summer stuff, though a cumbersome task, I loved every bit as with each attire came a memory.
While segregating the clothes to be sent to the dry-cleaner from the ones to be washed at home, I checked the pockets of suits of my husband and son besides my coats, pullovers, and jackets. Miscellaneous items missing for days together found their way out of crammed pockets. From pocket squares, keys, hankies, coins, currency notes, clutches to pens, they were all there. But this time, a new item found its way in the pocket, the mask. My spectacles had been missing for a while so I got a new pair only to find the old ones tucked safely in the inner pocket of the black coat. Indeed, life’s greatest small victory is finding lost stuff in a long-unworn coat pocket.
Pockets serve the purpose of handbags, especially in winter. I remember my mother and grandmother wore an apron with pockets while multitasking and their aprons were stacked with multiple items from kitchen napkins to titbits. My husband’s three-piece suits that he wore during wedding ceremonies and now don’t fit him hang in his almirah due to an emotional connect. Their pockets serve as storage units with sleeves. They contain old keys, calculators, diaries, Parker pens, visiting cards, and even old mobile phones. They are his cupboard full of memories.
Pockets weren’t originally sewn into a garment as they are today. In fact, the first pocket was actually a pouch that hung from the belt where one could carry valuables and coins. With the passage of time, these pockets developed into a variety of sewn-on pockets of the present day.
Pockets mean freedom and felicity. I get nostalgic as I reminisce about myself wearing a school uniform and skirt pockets packed with a bar of chocolate, a piece of chalk, pebbles and pocket money. As I grew up, it was lip balm, eyeliner, pens and nowadays there are spectacles, cards and the smartphone.
Indeed, pockets are fabulous. They hold all our stuff so we don’t have to juggle it while walking down the street. They are perfect to put our hands into. One of my friends who had the notion that she has small hands often kept her hands in pockets to overcome her apprehension. Moreover, pockets are gloves when it is cold outside. Whenever I wear a dress with pockets, my hands naturally gravitate towards the pocket.
Pockets, a mix of femininity and masculinity, find their way in skirts as well as men’s suits, lehengas and trousers because they are classy, capacious, comfortable and convenient, holy grails for men, women and children having an androgynous attribute.
Metaphorically speaking, we all love pockets of serene solitude, rejuvenating relationships, beaming brilliance and pragmatic perspectives. Well, when one has a great deal to put into it, a day has many pockets. Let us revel in these pockets and collect a treasure trove of memories because the last suit that we will wear won’t need any pocket. Only memories of pockets will remain eternal. May your pockets be heavy and heart light. May good luck pursue you each morning and night.
METAPHORICALLY SPEAKING, WE ALL LOVE POCKETS OF SERENE SOLITUDE, REJUVENATING RELATIONSHIPS, BEAMING BRILLIANCE AND PRAGMATIC PERSPECTIVES. WELL, WHEN ONE HAS A GREAT DEAL TO PUT INTO IT, A DAY HAS MANY POCKETS