Shoe Malfunction

Shoe malfunction 

Have you ever been embarrassed by wardrobe malfunctions? 

And have you broken your shoes into pieces in important ceremonies? 

In western dictionaries, wardrobe malfunction is a well defined word, meaning accidentally exposing the body part due to slip of an article or cloth and any objects. Somehow, in Indian culture, we do not have such a specific terminology. Possibly in Indian Sari and dhoti costumes, some of the body parts are always exposed and we did not bother much about it.  Today, I had a very unique experience of shoe malfunction. What malfunction, it broke in front of the massive crowd. 

On the morning of 30 Jan2022, we woke up early and prepared ourselves for a visit to an Indian Navy’s warship. It was a  “Family Day at Sea”. The families are taken to ride on a warship. Amazing. But this amazing experience came to me with a lot of embarrassment. What happened was, I polished my war shoes, these shoes are bigger than high ankle shoes, and they were in perfect shape. We drove till the dockyard, parked our vehicle and walked till the warship. It was about 1 km. We were received by the crew of the ship and greeted. It was a great honor for all four of us, myself, my wife and my two daughters. It was going well till I noticed some black material was coming out of the shoes by 9 am. OH my gosh. The soles of both the shoes were in a broken state, the material was coming out of the sole as if some garbage bag had opened up. It wasn’t a good day for me.

Anyway, these days I have feelings of contentment and don’t take any form of embarrassment in my head. And on top of that, I am reading IKIGAI. 

I kept sitting on chair and avoid exposure of shoe malfunction as if nothing happened. We were at the top floor of the ship. We thoroughly enjoyed the next 3 hours of navy drills and amazing war activities. The ship was a classic destroyer and it has really destroyed my shoes? Actually the ship wasn't responsible for destruction. I hardly used those shoes  in the last 2 years. Anything can go wrong, if we do not use them. Similar to what is mentioned in IKIGAI, we need to keep working to maintain good health and live longer. Simply, these shoes missed this IKIGAI advice. After assessment of the soles, I thought I will manage to walk with those broken and circumvent the crisis. It was not less than a war. Anyway, we came down by steel staircase for lunch. I tried to hide the malfunction. However, the last part of the sole under the rt heel just came out of the shoes in front of the escorting officer. Wife was 1000 times more embarrassed than me. I just said, confidently “I will manage”. She said, ask for some help. The escorting officer was listening to our conversation carefully. He directed one of the junior fellows to take me to the wardroom and some other officer will certainly help me to get out the other shoes, he assured. I liked his confidence. I went to the wardroom and was asked to wait in a cabin. After 10 minutes, the size 9 war shoes came. One of the senior officers offered help. I wore the shoes and came back to the lunch area on deck. Wife gave a big laugh at me and so did the children. I wasn’t that bothered. The reader might be surprised, how come ? or some of you may think, it can happen with anyone. Nothing a big deal.

No. I had such an experience in the past. That is why I did not bother much. I was in my first year of MBBS. Not similar to this, those shoes were repaired three times. Luckily, that day, I was walking alone and such walking alone scenes are rare in medical  college. You are always surrounded by friends or batchmates. The half of the sole just came out like that. I always used to think how bad my economic situation was or may be I never prioritize the monthly expenditure for better shoes. Those days were different. The cut to cut expenses, we do prioritize spending money on getting gifts for best friends on their birthdays. When I joined MBBS, my family was really going through difficult times in terms of finances. It was very easy that day to blame the financial crisis since then I always felt it was a hardship.

But, what happened today was a great learning experience. We easily blame situations. The embarrassment was the same, situations were different. Perceptions were entirely different. Today, I earn more than 40 lakhs per annum. But today’s shoe malfunction took me 26 years back. 

So do not take embarrassment personally and do not take them to heart. People will laugh at you sometimes. Some people will come forward to help you out. Accept the help and move ahead in life and reciprocate the help. I went to the officer’s house next day who dedicated his shoes without knowing me to return his shoes with a bottle of wine. 

We kept the blaming the situations and we certainly have a habit of keeping the others in the witness box or making others as culprits. These are natural tendencies. Narrating this chapter is equally important to me, simultaneously I am writing for cancer patients not to blame the others for their cancers.

Easy to blame but it is more easier to get out of embarrassment.

Amol Patel 

01Jan2023

0900pm