While this post was being penned, Bengaluru1 had relentless rains. The period from May to June here is usually associated with summer, and now it seems that we are truly out of sync. But you see, unpredictability has its own essence — and my suitcases2 have been a pinnacle in promoting it.
Before I move on to what exactly I mean, I think we must be able to assume that traveling bags and suitcases are interchangeable3. Getting back, my suitcases are a source of true mystery. They aren’t a treasure chest to me — unless, of course, I am looking for a new shampoo bottle or a book I have long forgotten.
I have tried to reason a lot, but I have only been able to come to terms with my inability to understand what’s going on. I arrive at my hostel after a trip and check my stuff meticulously. Clothes? Check. Charger? Check. Sanity? Debatable. Therefore, I usually have a fine account of things4. As an average student living in a hostel, I am at peace once everything is rearranged. It just so happens that whenever I need to get something (which I would have taken out of my suitcase and placed5 on my desk or in one of the racks, where I couldn’t find it), I must go back to my last resort, that is one of my suitcases. Somehow, it ends up there.
If I try to change my strategy of finding something in my suitcase first, it definitely won’t be there. I truly don’t understand why this happens, but it looks like they love playing magic tricks. While at that, I might present some statistics6:
- Azure is almost twice the volume of Prussian. However, if I go searching amongst these two bags, I would say I am likely to find my object of interest in Prussian around 65% of the time.
- I would say I have a preferential bias for choosing Azure while I search. Always started my last resort search with Azure, because my habit of reaching out to the wrong pocket is pronounced.
- Prussian, although smaller, has 3 compartments, of which two are empty. Azure has only 2 compartments, and they are filled.
I have three and a half theories for this:
- My belongings are in superposition and they hate me. They flip over to their other state in a suitcase when I try to find them.
- I am basically in an RPG7, and everyone around me is an NPC8. I have simply not realized that my suitcases are one too.
- I am not the only one who suffers from this within my hostel. There is a secret organization running within, which likes putting stuff back in the suitcase.
- I feel like I have completed the action of rearranging my belongings in my room, but I end up forgetting to place them. (Least plausible)
Let me conclude with the fact that this phenomenon definitely needs to be investigated and could really turn into a good research subject. As I finish this, I am afraid something has traveled back into one of the suitcases. Will have to get back to check now.
As indicated in the title, this post is a guest submission by Mayank Kumar and has been lightly edited by me. Mayank is my friend and a batchmate at IISc, where he is pursuing a major in Material Science (although I am well aware that his heart lies in Game Theory and related areas). Guest posts are a new feature on this blog, and I am excited to see how they evolve.
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My current place of residence — usually, when not underwater. ↩
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Well, call them ‘Azure’ and ‘Prussian’. I would have liked to name ‘Prussian’ as ‘Prussian Blue’, but I am not typing another word for these pests. ↩
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You must agree to this or one of us is dying on our way reading this post. It won’t be me. ↩
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I believe that I don’t suffer from a goldfish memory. ↩
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Read misplaced. ↩
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Useless stuff I wrote to make this post longer. ↩
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Role-playing game. (Note from Mrigank) ↩
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Non-playable character, i.e., a character in the game whose actions are not controlled by the player. (Note from Mrigank) ↩