WHAT DOES IT CARRY? The ubiquitous backpack bag??

I like the backpack for its convenience and many advantages.

It does not tire much and maintains my luggage privacy.

Moreover, I can be assured of daily sip of water anywhere i travel or walk to seeing that my bag conveniently allows for my 1 litre water bottle.

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Whenever I find nice things, and happen to be in need, including food goodies or other necessities, I can buy and not worry even one bit about where to store my luggage seeing that I can enter any spaces including offices with my backpack secured on my back….

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The only inconvenience of my backpack bag is that security officers at and in public & private spaces always insist on checking my luggage when they realize that I am trying to access the spaces they are assigned to guard …

And among the genders and what lifestyles demands for each gender, for men the backpack bag is akin to women’s handbag and is today almost a must carry for most ‘organized’ men…

In yesteryears, the backpack bag was mainly associated with professionals and intellectuals and the elite who carry laptops and related equipment that allow for work /professional tasks on-the-go, for instance in moving PSVs, at bus stages/parks or at restaurants or other waiting, resting & recreational spaces…… It was a class item but not anymore …

Yet the backpack bag has been associated with several life patterns and trappings.

Some of the bags carry order and purpose and indeed life including drugs for various conditions and food and water while others may carry danger and death such as those that transport drugs and lethal weapons including IEDs (improvised explosive devices); this explaining the reasons why the bags are routinely checked at all entry points to buildings and businesses and commercial premises, and even at country border points and airports…

Nevertheless, many young and old people today carry their different wares which they later display for sale on road sides and in pavements and streets.

… Apart from carrying the wares such as second hand clothing items, doors /window curtains, phones back covers, glasses, forks & related cutlery and even sewing needles among other paraphernalia, the bag also carries the cloth that is laid on the ground to hold the items being sold..

The bag is thus an important transportation gadget for this SMEs (MSMEs or micro, small & medium enterprises) sector providing protection from probing eyes and even from Nairobi county govt officials (in Nairobi County) who tend to hate hawking with a passion.

And although the bag often tends to carry within it hopes and aspirations and even some economic ‘life’ for many men & women especially in the SMEs sector, it has been abused by many as well.

Thieves and dishonest fraudulent people use the bag to transport stolen goods and ware. The bag provides the thieves with privacy in that that the stolen goods remain covered and can hardly be identified by their rightful owners.

Even in corporate, social & related functions and events including wedding parties and funerals, the bag has been and is abused by some miscreants…

… The miscreants steal food and pack it inside the bags. They also steal bottled water among other beverages which they stack in such bags denying other people of their rightful share of the foods and drinks. The miscreants can even steal misplaced items such as phones, wallets and even clothing items which they hide in the bags.

Often, the thieves steal the foods slyly when they return to the queues to serve themselves several times and then pack the foods each time they get the ill- gotten share.

Especially popular with the food thieves is bottled water given the prestige and status that is often associated with the sipping of the item.

And despite the pros and cons of the backpack bag, the bag may remain with us for a long time into the future and as long as medical research will give it an okay in terms of any side or ill effects or impact that its carrying may eventually be associated with in terms of the carrier’s spinal cords health..  ..

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