Desis love to retain the tags long after they complete their travel. In fact, most of them retain them till they check-in their luggage next time. This love for tags only gets persistent if they are visiting in India or if they are back in India after an official trip. As a rule, backpack travel tags remain forever. The hope is friends/family/co-workers or fellow passengers in Indian trains are bound to notice the tags and think high of them.
NRI Desis too, love to retain tags to brag about how long its been since they last visited India.
Finally, it’s the desi way of reconciling with the fact that airlines ripped them off and thus retaining the tags is one way to maximize the ROI from the expensive trip they made.
Hilarious blog!
Theres another one you have to include….
Having HUGE address labels taped onto the luggage so well that an atomic bomb wouldnt remove it!
dont forget the ribbons and stickers on the back to make yours stand out….Ours are pink and blue!!
LOL, this is so true! Euro tags is specially valued in America for some strange reason. As if Americans, especially educated White Americans, will dole out extra credit.
[...] From the moment the smallest of knick-knack is purchased from the most obscure of little outlets, the desi will feel not just a sense of ownership toward it, but also a sense of pride and an inexplicable sentimental attachment to it. And, if they got it on a deal, then it pretty much becomes a part of their legacy for future generations. This is not just limited to the purchases, it also elegantly extends itself to stuff they don’t technically own or purchase. [...]