Among the most memorable moments from Wes Anderson’s film, Darjeeling Limited, is the Whitman brothers’ chase down and jump onto the train as they slowly shed their pieces of luggage. Who can forget the striking and ultra kitschy pieces they inherited from their father which also became a key prop in the narrative? What the film did spur is a peek in the search for travel trunks with one designer even recreating Anderson’s originals from the movie.
Back home before indie culture made them super fashionable and cool, trunks always bring back memories of train journeys for weddings, with heavy lehengas carefully wrapped and preserved in these metal boxes that weighed more than an average five-year-old. It calls back to a time when train travelling was as much about the journey itself as it was the destination. When instead of plugging in your headphones and zoning out (or at least pretending to avoid making conversation with those around you) it was more of a community experience, topped with homemade tomato and cheese sandwiches, charades and antakshari.
Whether it’s the diverse cuisine that we get to savour, the unfamiliar words of a language that we get to hear, the people we meet and befriend from various cultures and the constantly changing landscapes that we get to enjoy as we traverse from one state to the other with the rattling of trunks under the seats as your constant soundtrack; you’re kind of bound to everyone on this single journey, even when the destinations may differ.
There was a time, way back when the must-have accessory for all the jetsetters was the now-iconic Louis Vuitton travel trunk. From the master craftsman’s first creation in 1858, the trunks have travelled the world over, oozing glitz and old-world charm like no other. But as we progressed and the metal rusted and leather wore out, suitcases supplanted the household travel trunks to become the lighter, more convenient option as air travel become frequent and accessible. Luggage has existed for as far back as when human being began moving around in some form or the other. And in its own unique way, mirrors society’s changes and progress, adapting to each form.
We’ve bid adieu to our travel trunks, some plain and neat, other’s covered in stickers and special markers.
Representational feature image courtesy of Evening Standard
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