In the beginning, there was an old wallet. It was handed down to me, from my teacher for my good behavior. My teacher got that from his high school principal. So, the small wallet has seen two generations. I was quite proud to have it in my possession.
Though I do not have much money to put into it, I was proud to use the wallet to hold my share of green papers. I have begun to love this piece of hide over the years. At first, I did not like the mellowed brown piece of leather. But due to constant usage, I began to like its dull, smooth finish. The wallet which was once black in color turned a slight shade of brown.
Originally, the wallet had a blue lining around it (Prussian blue in color). The wallet had 3 chambers in it. The main chamber is meant for holding currency. That was a big chamber and can hold up to a 100 notes of currency in it comfortably. The second chamber is designed to hold cards, papers etc. Finally, it has a small pouch for holding coins.
Constant usage has left a dark brown tinge at the edges. Though the leather looks frayed at the edges, it still promises many years of safekeeping. The Wallet has really served us well. Whenever I look at it, I am nostalgic. It had provision for storing one’s photo. I had stored a picture of my childhood in it. It served as a good anchor to evoke the positive, innocent emotions that I had as a child. The pouch had a zipper made of thick gun metal and it was still in a good working condition.
One notable blot on the wallet is a smudge of bright, blue ink. My brother was careless enough to drop an ink-pot on top of the wallet and the bright blue spot has made itself a permanent tenant on the pouch. Though I could have cleaned it immediately, I refrained from doing so to keep it as a smudge of sweet memory. I still retain my old train tickets, school, college, office identity card, ATM cards, and library cards from my school days in it.
I had a nasty experience of losing it while traveling in train and searched for it high and low. Finally, a kind-hearted gentleman who had found it returned it to me after finding my contact details from my numerous cards within. On the whole, this small black piece of leather has come back to stay in my home and heart.
