Twenty- five Seven

Flip flop over FITFLOPS

April 18, 2012

Last week Fee, my friend from Zurich came home for her annual visit. Since both of us can do without the extra calories, we decided to limit our interaction to walking and talking rather than wining and dining.

So we met at the club to walk our way to fitness. While I was well kitted in my Reeboks, she was wearing the old fashioned tennis shoe still sold by Bata stores nationwide. Since she was going to be in India for just a while, I told her that she should buy a pair of FITFLOPS which were better suited for walking as they would provide her with the requisite support and offer the comfort of an open sandal. She was aghast at this suggestion and said
“Nai re nai, that’s what caused my back problem in the first place!”

Then again earlier this week when the gang of four met up for lunch at Zoe, one of my friends was complaining bitterly about her aching feet when I suggested FITFLOPS. Once again she said

“Nai re nai, those are most uncomfortable and caused my problem in the first place. It is this toe grabbing business that makes things so painful”.

Well, this was the first time I’d heard of any complaints and if this trend of flip flopping over fitflops continues we will soon have a slipper that is a total flop!
Evolution of the tennis shoe

April 17, 2012

What happened to the tennis shoe
I used to wear in school
In simple, plain , white canvas
with soles so paper thin.

They’ve morphed into an industry
for different kinds of sport,
for biking, walking, trekking, cross training and hitch hiking.
For tennis, gymming, running
and simply just for wearing.
Non marking shoes for indoor courts
And sturdy ones for out door sports

They’re sneakers, trainers, high tops
and athletic foot wear too.

With uppers, inners, laces
in leather, fabrics, texures
that breathe and match your mood
In colours that are vibrant
no more just boring white
In styles and shapes and
make a statement
that finally you’ve arrived

Like the Shoe !

The tennis shoe as I knew it was a plain canvas lace up shoe with a rubber sole so thin that after two wears you could begin to feel the ground beneath your feet.

This shoe which was available at Bata shoe shops all over the country was the staple foot wear of all children athletic or otherwise. A few years later, this evolved into a shoe with a thin green line on the side and a slightly thicker sole . This meant that it was after six months or when the shoe tore ( whichever came earlier) before you felt the ground beneath your feet.

Keeping this shoe clean was quite a ritual. For those of us who were really particular, the shoe had to be scrubbed clean with soap and waer, semi dried before applying a thick white polish called Blanco. Applying the polish was an art in itself : a thicker layer meant that it would cake on drying which would flake on wearing. So it had to be applied just right.

For those who forgot to polish the shoes overnight, a quick fix was a wet white chalk hastily scrubbed on which would last for the five minute inspection in the Assembly line.

What a change it was then to find tennis shoes which looked nothing like its ancestor! Modern day shoes have solesas thick as 2 inches sometimes and in colours as lurid as can be. With high tops and air pumps and all weather soles and inners and uppers of different fabric and textures manufactured from high end to low end in all countries of he globe, gone are the days when one walked into a Bata and picked up a tennis shoe.
Life is just a photograph.

April 15, 2012

Life is just a photograph.

You reached out with your little hand

And kept it warm in mine

You stared at me with big wide eyes

in blind faith and trust

Your curly hair

Your fatty feet

Your dimpled chin

And cupid lips;

I close my eyes

And see them all

Afresh, alive, before me.

Your baby steps you took with me

Slowly, then assuredly.

Your little nose turned up at me

Every once in a while

New discoveries

Moments of bliss

Your happiness and joy

You shared with me

Wholeheartedly

Entirely and exclusively.

Your first wet tears you cried with me

And happy laughter too

For years and years we lived our lives

Completely and inseparably

Intertwined as one

Then,

All at once

You abandoned me

And left me all alone

Bereft

And sad so suddenly.

How little did I think one day

You’d leave me high and dry,

With memories and aching loss

That do not go away.

I look upon my table and see

Those years have come to pass

Your sweet smile

Once shared with me

Is frozen in eternity.

And life is just a photograph;

A pretty picture where once we stood

Arm in arm with happy smiles

And all that’s left is dusty dreams

In quickly fading past.

Flip flop over FITFLOPS

Evolution of the tennis shoe

Life is just a photograph.