I distinctly remember my grandmother telling me that buying or donning a leather item specially shoes on a Saturday was not done and she would hang any new item, be it clothes or otherwise on the iron door stopper before using it on a Saturday, as if to appease lord Saturn! I understand Saturn rules iron and leather, hide of a deceased being, and is symbolised by colour black!

However, most of my footwear was somehow purchased on a Saturday! This pair of black slip-ons was not an exception. I normally prefer shoes with strings attached! Thanks to my stint with Varun Industries, where there was a fine Indian tradition to leave one’s shoes at the doorstep before entering the place of work, Slip-ons became a practical choice.

They were of simple design, not pointed or fashionable as used by the young people these days, but very comfortable and did not give me any shoe bite when I bought them. They happen to be very comfortable still and more. I remember a story in my school days about a German shoe maker who was a perfectionist and made remarkably comfortable and long lasting shoes, but who sadly lost out to the speed and large scale economy of industrial revolution.

My pair was a product of new age economy and yet it has been quite durable and comfortable in spite of being subjected to some very rough treatment in my new place of work, which happens to be a construction site. It’s crimples in the front, top and rear, and tear of a small portion of leather surface give it a distinct character with which the vagabond in me, seem to have fallen in love, wearing this pair and feeling like a lone ranger in distant lands, away from home, such as in Jaipur.....

It is not that I am as careful a user as my father, who continued to use a lovely Gilette razor, which used “seven -o-clock” blades in those days, and was set in a neat german silver case, presented to him at the time of his wedding by his cricket club with handwritten inscription on the inside, for the next 58 years till his death! The inscription and the case and the razor are till today in perfect condition. By comparison my shoes are just around twenty months old!

I also seem to feel at home in myself and in this pair, irrespective of the respect it may attract from others! I have travelled widely wearing them and whimsically, I feel they have carried me in to good times. The shoes have not lost their shape or sole( or soul !) and given a good polish they can remind one of a well preserved vintage car by a passionate Parsi.

It is not that I am a miser as some of my dear ones may want to believe. I still have in my shoe rack a green suede, light blue fabric, denim blue denim, light brown , beige canvas net, white walking shoes and one more pair of black strap-ons! It is another matter that this is no comparison to those of my wife or Emelda Marcos!!

And talking about my wife I agreed to buy one more pair of black shoes on this new year’s day as desired by her. And would you believe it? After seeing and trying many pairs, I bought one which looked exactly like the old one including the design of the sole on the underside!

Now every morning, before I go to work, two pairs of identical black shoes stare in my face side by side. Somehow, however, instinctively, my feet slip into the old ones!

I also have a black leather briefcase which also shows signs of use and its handle speaks of my DIY attempt at repairing......but that’s another story!

Pinakin D. Lalsodagar