August 06, 2008

Shoe

There they were - the two pairs! Bathed in pitch black, they adorned a polished look. With smug written all over, they were bold enough to look down upon mine. The conceit was conspicuous and unbearable. I was seething with controlled anger! Oh... how I wish I had a big bucket of gutter dirt, that I could splash it all over them and get rid of that bloody smugness!

Grinding my teeth slowly I looked at their owners' face with a phony smile and continued my conversation. But my eyes kept darting to their pitch-black well-polished shoes. Even the sole of their shoes were BLACK, with no signs of dirt or mud! My jealousy could hardly keep me standing there for long. I found some excuse to cut the conversation short, and hurried to the rest room. I grabbed a few paper towels, soaked them, and with frustration started removing the dirt on my shoes with the paper towel. "It is a workshop happening in a five star hotel! And here I am, with a pair of dirty black shoe!" I exasperated.

Oh... how I hate black shoes! It is such a pain to maintain them. I've often wondered how most of the guys maintain their black shoes. That too in India! In the polluted and dusty Bangalore City! During a trip I have seen my colleague boringly brushing his shoes, carefully examining tiny teeny dirt particles, and then carefully removing them. God...! Kudos to his patience! And kudos to the patience of all those guys, who polish their shoes to perfection.

I have a theory! Do you know why the security guards of big hyper-star hotels look at your shoe before judging whether you are worth entering the hotel? Coz black shoes are meant for the rich! A well polished black shoe with less wear-and-tear means you often travel in cars, and often stay indoors. It means you – the owner of such a pair of shoe - could be rich. Yes... that is the fact - black shoes are meant for the rich. They are meant for those who travel in cars – and not for those who commute on bikes - like poor me.

As I was cursing the "black shoe culture" and working on my shoes with the wet paper towels, the door opened and the janitor strode in.

He was wearing a pair of well-polished pitch black shoe!



5 comments:

Anonymous said...

i was there in that workshop.did not notice your shoes or any one else'.. but noticed you... whatever bad your shoes may be, your performance there was suberb.. kudos to you...

padhick said...

Hey... Thanks Anony! Nonetheless.. i dislike black shoes :-) Btw, you can comment with your actual name :-)

Anonymous said...

Black shoes??? I havent worn one in a year or two! And my only pair of black shoes (or any shoes, other than the ones I wear for treks) is lying someone down the pile at home :( and its almost grey in color now :((

PS: I happen to enter a star hotel to drop my cousin and family. Ofcourse, he was dressed well and I was in a t-shirt, faded jeans and floaters :) Ignore them buddy ... ignore them ;-)

Anonymous said...

i am Vimal from GBP team.

padhick said...

Sandeep, Nice to hear someone too dislikes black shoes :-) At times it is tough to ignore the blackshoe etiquette :-)

Vimal, Nice to see you here :-)