The salesman in the footwear shop was astonished with my
demand. 'A chappal with a strong strap, strong enough not to be removed by
anyone'. It was not only that my dogs
have the habit of chewing into my footwear that I wanted a strong strap.
It was only after I
watched a TV debate that I started thinking of the glory of chappals. A senior media
person was seen commenting on the ISRO spy scandal in a leading TV
channel, 'policemen who didn't have the
qualifications to remove the strap of Nambi Narayan's chappal framed a false
case against him.' Very recently, a friend of mine couldn't resist the
temptation to latch on to the strong foot wear strap either. He said many junior
artistes who didn't have the qualification to remove the chappal strap of super
star Mohanlal were turning up against him in AMMA (Association of Malayalam
Movie Artistes).
The same chappal that gets glorified when some people wear
it also gets a negative connotation on other occasions. If you want to make
someone a hero garland him with flowers but if you want to belittle someone or
show your protest, garland him with chappals!. There is nothing more insulting
than getting a slap with a slipper from an offended woman.
But chappals can also turn out to be second class citizens.
In many clubs, chappals are not allowed at all. In other places they are stolen
or mistakenly taken away by somebody else as in Churches, temples or outside
halls or auditoriums. In school where we were supposed to wear black shoes on
most days except canvas on Physical Training day, I remember teachers scolding
those who wore chappals. It was meant for the bathroom.
Just as the feeling of nakedness without a dress, we feel
the same without a footwear. But renowned painter M F Hussain had the courage to go bare
foot to Willingdon Island in Mumbai only to be turned off. My uncle never wore
a chappal until his retirement when doctors said he was suffering a skin
problem in his heels.
I still can’t understand the fate of a chappal. Does it get
glorified by the importance of the person who wears it or does the quality of
the chappal define the person?
