By Once upon a time there was a metal trunk. It was large trunk, strong and sturdy, one of the best of its proud aluminium clan, forged in India, and destined to hold treasures and secrets alike. It was the happiest trunk in the entire New Delhi back in 1994 when it received its first assignment as memory keeper, and was subsequently promoted the following year to the Anti-Moisture and Dust-Buster squadron, as part of the Family Timeline Keeper mission. The trunk grew heavy in time, collecting all the photographs and negatives of its photographer owner, as these were the good old pre-DSLR days. Sadly, the time came when the analogue Nikon was replaced by a younger digital Canon, and the trunk was no longer needed as much. So it was locked, and stowed away under a spare bed in the guest room.
The trunk, however, did not slip into the abyss of Forgotten Things, and soon found itself travelling from India to Berlin in 2001, to Manila in 2006, back to Delhi in 2010, then onward to Thailand in 2014, where it parted ways with its beloved owner in 2016, and made its way to the unknown shores of Mexico in 2019, alone for the first time, so far away from a camera or a photographer. It grew sad and dusty on the outside, feeling its age and loneliness, as other boxes were piled upon it.
Then one day not to long ago, a curious young human found it, and unlocked the trunk. Oh what joy it was to share all the treasures of bygone days again! And the trunk was overjoyed, eagerly hoping to be reunited with its original owner again. Much to its disappointment, this was not written in the travelling stars. Only the photographs would travel again, but in small batches at a time, enough to fill a portion of whatever suitcase had been assigned to carry out the mission.
So far there have been three batches delivered between Mexico and Berlin this year, and these are some of the quickly refurbished treasures. The child is the same in all of them, and is now a lovely grown woman.
