Footwear conundrum

Seeking assistance to remove and wear footwear by VIPs is considered as 'VIP racism', VIP culture', 'colonial mindset', 'practice of aristocracy', 'servility', so on and so forth. This is, however, a way of dismissing a nagging issue superficially. The matter needs to be analysed in detail before drawing arbitrary conclusions.

The problem, as one sees it, has a great deal to do with our practices and culture. Irrespective of what footwear one wears, one would be required to dislodge them at various places. We cannot wear footwear while entering places of worship, we are also required to remove them while entering residences. Some commercial establishments display ''leave your footwear outside'' boards. In fact, while leaving one's residence one would not be sure where one would be required to remove his footwear and how many times. There are too many places and objects in our country which are considered sacrosanct.

Some officers also are imbued with this aristocratic mentality. A government organisation in which I had worked was headed by a bureaucrat who had made it a rule that no one entering the chamber should wear footwear. Of course, just as every rule has an exception, this footwear rule also had one:: the rule did not apply to that bureaucrat.

Then, what is the problem? The first problem is, of course, irrespective of what footwear it is-slippers, chappals, sandals or the shoes- when removed from the feet and kept elsewhere, there was the distinct possibility of their being stolen. There have been instances when even VVIPs have been the victims of the theft of footwear! The next problem is the exclusive preserve of the shoes.

Removing them and again wearing them at odd places, is not an easy task for many of us. At most the places where one is required to remove footwear, there is no arrangement to sit. I have, on occasion, lost balance and managed to hold on with the help of a side-wall, railings or the shoulder of someone. What about the socks? Should they be removed along with the shoes? Removing them is a more tedious task, and, if one does not remove them they get soiled.

As for myself, since discretion is the better part of valour, at some point of time in service, I decided not to wear shoes except on formal occasions where shoes appeared to be more appropriate. Post-retirement, the shoes that I had purchased while in service stand majestically on the shoe-rack with a thick coat of dust having settled on them.