Making a trolley egalitarian gesture

Airport fashion is a genre that mostly comprises snapshots of the outfits of Indian film stars spotted in transit. Other categories of famous people are hardly ever scrutinised for offduty, so to speak. But the one accoutrement that is never on this radar is luggage, mostly because celebrities of all kinds — at least from this part of the world — rarely need to cart around their luggage themselves, as per a certain time-honoured Indian tradition. So, the recent social media admiration for a young Bollywood blue blood (and daughter of star parents) who was spotted pushing a suitcase-laden trolley after landing in Mumbai is understandable for it is truly a rare occurrence. Given her gumption, maybe she even took a cab from the airport.

This appreciation marks a sea-change in the attitude of ordinary Indians as well. Once upon a time, famous people were deemed to be either delightfully eccentric or angelically unworldly if they did not allow their followers or flunkeys to show their loyalty by acting as porters, whether it was official briefcases, lunchboxes or luggage. Indeed, it could even be taken as a possible indication of the diminution of their importance by many sections of the public if these items were seen in transit in the hands of their actual owners rather than aides. Clearly, that is not the (brief)case any more.