I GOT SOUVENIRS.

MY EXPENSIVE TOTE

My good friend Wiki tells me that: 

A souvenir (from French, meaning "a remembrance or memory") is an object a person acquires for the memories the owner associates with it. 

It can be any object that can be collected or purchased and transported home by the traveler as a memento of a visit. The object itself may have intrinsic value, or be a symbol of experience. 

Without the owner's input, the symbolic meaning is invisible and cannot be articulated.

In simple language, a souvenir is a visible token to remind the person of his experience. We get these tokens not only when we travel but also on occasions like weddings. Any special event calls for a thematic souvenir, one that reminds the person of the event long after its over.  

Throughout the world, the souvenir trade is an important part of the tourism industry serving a dual role, first to help improve the local economy, and second to allow visitors to take with them a memento of their visit, ultimately to encourage an opportunity for a return visit, or to promote the locale to other tourists as a form of word-of-mouth marketing. 

When I first travelled solo, I collected a lot of such souvenirs. Determined not to fall for expensive curios that had to be displayed in showcases, I opted to get home fridge magnets instead. Yes, you read right! Fridge magnets. 

My stopover at Singapore enroute to Sydney was a hectic whirlwind of visits, first to The Universal Studios where I went berserk and got five fridge magnets. 

Then the next day, at the Jurong Bird Park, I acquired another one. At the Singapore Zoo, I got myself a giraffe magnet and some soft toy animals that were too cute to resist. 

And finally, at the Marina Bay gardens, I splurged, acquiring some postcards, a couple of magnets and an expensive tote. Caution: Please CONVERT if you don't want to overspend. You know what I mean, don't you?

Forgot about these completely. 

By the time, I reached Sydney I had sobered down a bit and only got myself a couple, no, three, no, four magnets and a cute bell of the Eye Tower (sheepish look).

Earlier, in May, we had gone to Kashmir to celebrate 50 years of my life on this planet. Fortunately, there weren't any cute magnets so I just got me one. But they had some beautifully created and painted Christmas ornaments, papier mache boxes and their signature handiwork pillow cases which I blew a good deal of money on. 

This is used to put coal in to keep them warm. 

After these two trips, I was very cautious about buying souvenirs on my third trip to Jaipur, Agra, Delhi with Aaron. I managed to come back with just two postcards. 

At each of these places, we had taken lots of pictures and filmed our experiences in video clips. We displayed these on Facebook for others to enjoy as well. I placed my magnets on the fridge but there were so many, they somehow did not give me joy. 

Yesterday, I was watching a video on clutter and it suddenly struck me "Gosh! This is one place I haven't decluttered yet!". So I took down all my souvenirs to decide which ones should go. And then I realized that what these souvenirs meant to me they would never mean to anyone else. They would be 'just a magnet' to them. For me, they were magnets with memories. 

So I did what minimalists do with kids' toys. I kept a couple on the fridge and the rest in a carved wooden box. Every time I feel like changing a magnet, I will go to my box of memories and choose one. As I place it on the fridge door, I hope it will take me back in time to the place I got it from. These days, this is the only way I can ever hope to travel. VIRTUALLY!!