The Gen Z bag

Studying in an extravagant coaching center in Connaught Place, Delhi may not have been very beneficial in giving desired output in my competitive examination but it proved to be an overall different and fun experience. I am someone who likes to observe things and traveling from a low-budget Pg in Laxmi Nagar to the posh business and tourist area every day gave me the chance to observe. Observation is not a one-day thing, but you do it over a period of time and it is when you notice stark differences in the character and habits of people from different backgrounds. 

It was our first day of coaching and the first-day anxiety prevails. The shyness, sitting quietly and just observing faces, ice-breaking with your first bench mate, and the overly boosting first-day enthusiasm to emerge the brightest among all. The classroom setup was different from what I expected it to be. Taking admission in Delhi, I expected the coaching to be thronged with Delhites but apparently, it was the UP and Bihar students assuming the majority strength of our batch. I, being from Bihar, was particularly happy about it. It was actually very relieving. The sense of being with people from your own state always feels nice and homely when you are away from your home. The comfort of talking in your own dialect, without people gazing and pointing out your mistake in language, is overpowering. For me, this comfort was using 'hum' instead of 'mai' while talking. 

As it was the first day, I was quite early to the class. The class was slowly filling up with students and it was then that I noticed a girl who entered our class in a very different fashion. Unlike the usual bag back we carried to class, she entered the class with a fancy handbag, which was not very different from the bag in which my grandfather brought vegetables every day from the market or if simply put 'a jhola'. I liked the bag and was really amazed by the confidence with which she carried that fashion to the class. The bag was as much blowing my mind as was the girl. She wore a pink crop top and baggy jeans that suited her well. The heels with transparent straps gave her walk a style. The black specs on her beautiful face made her even more attractive. She carried her bag in one hand and a black bottle in the other. In no way, it looked like she came in to study. Later while introducing ourselves to the class, I came to know that she was from south Delhi and talked in a different accent. After class, as we were all leaving, I had a small bit of chat with her. It was then that she surprised me even more. I asked her how she was going to go back to her home. She said that her car was waiting for her. It was then she asked me the same thing to which I said that I would go by metro to which she replied and quote, "Oh nice! I don't know actually, I never ever sat on a metro." Out of surprise, I said and regretted, "Oh wow! real south Delhi then." Luckily, she did not take any offense, chuckled at the joke, and waved me goodbye. It was the first and the last time that I saw her because she never showed up again. It was however later that I found out that these trendy handbags are called Tote bags.