Who wants my Gucci bag? – The Luxury of Letting Go

In the midst of India’s intense and richly spiritual atmosphere, long after my days in the Western corporate world, I found myself confronted with the remnants of a life I had already left behind. They were material artefacts that were somehow still with me. Silent witnesses to an earlier chapter.

I sat thoughtfully in front of a moving box filled with designer handbags that had once represented glamour, socialising – Milanese aperitivi and visits to the opera – and status. They were gifts that had never really meant very much to me. They held no sentimental value. Still, I could appreciate their quality – the materials, the precise craftsmanship and the attention to detail.

At the same time, they carried traces of a completely different life. A whole host of memories began to surface.

In a spontaneous act of liberation, I decided to offer these luxury items on various social media platforms, including a group for expats in India.

But my simple call out into the virtual world, “Who wants my Gucci bag?”, was met with unexpected silence. There was absolutely no response and the sound of virtual crickets was louder than any answer could have been.

What had started as a simple decluttering exercise suddenly became a rather vivid illustration of just how far I had moved away from my former life. Western luxury brands that might spark desire elsewhere were met with remarkable indifference here at the foot of the Himalayas and within the cultural world of India. But then again, they had long since lost their splendour in my own life too.

When the silence continued, I eventually decided to take these once-coveted objects back to Europe during a family visit. There, I took them to a second-hand shop, where they could hopefully be appreciated again in a new context.

Letting go of the Gucci bags marked a clear turning point in my life story, even though the deeper shift had taken place long before.

The Gucci bag in question.

There was a Fendi in the box too.