#032 SHOES FOR INDIANS

An hour back I was watching ND TV News.

The Channel showed an I.P.S. Officer (designated as her Security Officer), cleaning her shoes in public.

I felt distressed. I felt happy , in a way, that I didn't try for Civil Services Examination.

Why did this particular I.P.S Officer need to stoop so low down?

My mind also started thinking : Does a Chief Minister, (gender or caste immaterial) need shoes? This culture started from the days of the Congress stalwart Chief Ministers of pre-independence days like Govinda Ballabh Pant. Even Swami Vivekananda and his (supposedly mad looking) philosophical Guru Ramakrishna Paramahamsa wore shoes.

India has a population of 1.1 billion. At least 900 million cannot afford shoes and do not wear them. In fact at least 500 million cannot afford sandals. Why does, then a Chief Minister who poses as a champion fighter for the poor, need to wear shoes? Mayawati sould seriously ponder over this.

Assuming that a la other C.M.s she could wear shoes, do they need public cleaning on the roads? Wouldn't it have been sufficient that she started the day with clean shoes? Was she meeting any foreign diplomat or a top banker?

I am, now , tempted to write something autobiographical:

1. I was too poor to buy and wear rubber sandals from my birth 1950 to 1968. A paternal uncle bought me rubber sandals, seeing my plight while walking in hot summer on molten bitumen roads.

2. I lived on borrowed chappals from my maternal uncle from 1968 to 1970 when I was attending job interviews and doing odd jobs.

3. I could buy good chappals in 1970 for the first time, when I joined a Bank.

4. I married in 1975. I was preparing for a promotion interview. On the combined occasion, my friends advised me to attend the promotion interview wearing shoes. I bought Bata leather shoes, brown color, spending some 300 Rupees approx. $10. I lost the promotion interview. Ankles started aching, like the proverbial Achilles heal. My younger brother started using them.

5. I, later, attended another promotion interview in 1976 , wearing leather chappals. I got selected, of course.

Back to Mayawati, I do not grudge her wearing shoes. I only feel that one morning-polish at home, may be adequate, unless she is going to call on some foreign national, who, I perceive, give great value to dress.