Sandals

A polo tee, beige shorts, and sparx sandals with "Blue Eyes" playing in the ears

Bata, Sparx, Paragon and some other brands have always been in this game of making sandals with velcro’s. I remember, how much I loved having a good sandal all the time during my childhood.

I was traveling home the day before yesterday by train. I usually travel in Sleeper Coach, a coach full of different people from middle classes to very poor people. There are always a lot of annoying kids and I do hate them every time. Maybe, it’s just that I can’t catch up with them, or it’s true that they are very annoying. I was sitting beside two other boys who were wearing these modern-day shoes called “Clogs” or “Crocs”. I do too, I do not prefer to, but I wear them because, in Whitefield, they cover my feet from bathing in the dust. All of a sudden I got reminded of how much I loved wearing sandals.

Everywhere in the surrounding a lot of them are wearing Crocs, it doesn’t take a lot of time for something to become a trend in India. We are the largest “consumers” of everything, but very low quality or good products go out from India and become a trend in some other countries.

Growing up, I used to play a lot of football. The young me would sometimes wear shoes or sandals to play football on concrete roads in my colony. I would fasten the velcro too much, sometimes to feel good and get the feel of wearing shoes, I would fasten it more than the attachers length and the velcro would lose its sticking because of the dust. I walked on the prejudice that round-shaped sandals would not help me have a proper kick when compared to a narrow shape of the sandal or shoe. Often, I would feel like I’ve lost my world, and get angry and frustrated over the loose velcro of my sandals. Because, while playing they would loosen up, and while kicking they would launch towards the goalkeeper with the ball. Embarrassingly, I would go and try to fasten it again more than its length. I would then go and try to ask my parents for another pair, buying stuff so quickly back then was a bit hard for them, but nonetheless, after some time I would get it.

The reflection a shoe or fashion style possesses totally depends on what person is wearing them. Some cool kids would wear sandals that had an extended part in the front which would look good on a shirt and jeans outfit. Some would wear sandals paired up with beige shorts and a Polo or Round Neck T-shirt. Back in 2017, I’d see some older guys walking around in a t-shirt, and denim shorts with a cool-looking pair of sandals, wearing wired earphones listening to “Love Dose”, “Desi Kalakaar”, “Brown Rang” or “Blue Eyes” by Yo Yo Honey Singh. I’d feel stupidly admired for how they looked.

Because of the poverty, a lot of lads in India on the streets do not have proper footwear to cover their tiny feet, it sometimes pains to see a kid walking barefoot when the streets are burning hot because of the sun. Even on the train, the annoying kid did not have anything to cover his legs. I could see the palm of his leg being all black with dust and dirt if he was born into a fairly rich family. He wouldn’t have had a black and dusty palm, perhaps he wouldn’t even be in the same sleeper coach as me.

Author's Note

Sparx, paragon and bata are brands in India
Yo Yo Honey singh was a good singer whose good songs have become a unfollowed legacy now. Those songs in the essay are one of his best and which I've grown up listening to.

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