"Feet, what do I need you for when I have wings to fly?"
~
Frida Kahlo
After almost every instance that I have gone out shopping, I've returned with a resolution in my mind - never to shop for footwear again! However, the next time I do spot a shoe store, my curiosity and optimism get the better of me, and before I can stop myself I am already browsing the shelves. Here's why we came around to the resolution in the first place.
In a store that has say around 500 pairs of footwear on display, I might like a couple - courtesy : the choosy me. The size on display is never the one that will fit me. So I ask the storekeeper to get me my size of the same shoe. He looks at the shoe on display and tries to take sneak peek at my feet. I ask him bluntly, "What is the bigget size you have?" He doesn't want to lose a prospective customer easily, and in his attempt to buy time, tells me, "We may have your size. I'll just have a look in our godown. Why don't you see something else in the meantime?" I bid my time and look around. Sometimes I find something interesting, most of the times I don't. The keeper returns empty handed, and feigns regret at not having found my size in that particular design. Tell you what, I am not surprised. Its not the first time this happened. I am kind of used to it. Ever since my feet grew to their full size - I was 15 then - I have visited a number of shoe shops only to return disappointed!
It is not that I was always used to this. The first few times this happened, I was rather embarrassed Some shopkeepers tried to console me by saying that they had run out of stock whereas the other insensitive ones told me that shoemakers did not make shoes of my size! This would usually be followed by me losing my temper and storming out of the shop swearing under my breath, determined never to glance at that shop again. With the passage of time, however, I have come to terms with the fact that its not easy to find good shoes that fit my feet; but it is not impossible. There have been occasions when I have had to have my footwear flown in from the middle east and Bulgaria. In addition to the lovely shoes, I was also reassured that atleast in some part of this world, there are women who have feet like mine. So yes, shoemakers do make shoes that fit me. If they didn't, I'd have gone the M F Hussain way a long time back.
These days I can, more often than not, predict the response of the shopkeeper. I have mastered the art of reading expressions which conceal the process of choosing the right words to tell me that I have large feet and the shop cannot cater to my pedial needs. Nowadays, I get into shoe shops more for the kick of it than to actually buy them. Before the shopkeeper can frame his sentence I ask, "You don't have it, right?"; and all he can do is nod sheepishly. Guess that makes it easier for him as well as for me. For him because he is spared the effort. For me because I can easily move out of the shop after having embarrassed him for a change.
~
These days I can, more often than not, predict the response of the shopkeeper. I have mastered the art of reading expressions which conceal the process of choosing the right words to tell me that I have large feet and the shop cannot cater to my pedial needs. Nowadays, I get into shoe shops more for the kick of it than to actually buy them. Before the shopkeeper can frame his sentence I ask, "You don't have it, right?"; and all he can do is nod sheepishly. Guess that makes it easier for him as well as for me. For him because he is spared the effort. For me because I can easily move out of the shop after having embarrassed him for a change.
~
