(A pure nonsensical account of how a pair of footwear played an insignificant role in history)
Long due in the trash bin, these rock-hard pieces of leather had been saved from oblivion owing to its emotional, albeit ?insignificant?, historical value. This weather-beaten footwear was the prized possession of my friend, Gurucharan. He adorned his showcase with the footwear. Though umpteen visitors had expressed varied opinions, ranging from revulsion to ridicule, he nevertheless, continued to display them proudly.It was not merely a pair of slippers, he once said, but a piece of history. History my foot, I had exclaimed. Manufactured by a local (long-perished) manufacturer in 1915, the footwear had been a source of pride for his great-great grandfather. For, he was the first to have had such a ?luxury? in his lineage. Thus, Gurucharan would begin the story of the famed footwear to several unwary and unwilling guests. A Tonga driver, his great-grand father, Haricharan, attached more value to his slippers than his own life.He took great care against wear and tear. Much to the envy of his ilk, Haricharan would kick the horse with his foot, to show-off the prized posession. Despite blessed with such luxury, he was not endowed with good hearing or common sense. The year, his great-great grandson said, was 1919. His great-grand father had just left two passengers at the gates of Jallianwallah Bagh. The place wore a festive look with thousands of people milling the place to have a glimpse of two anti-British speakers who had defied prohibitory orders. Being inherently curious, Haricharan made his way through the crowds. The meet was of little use as neither the speech nor its political significance made any sense to him. Having earned nearly 15 annas that day, he proposed to kill his boredom by watching the crowd. As he walked towards the crowd, he saw Khaki-clad figures brandishing rifles and a white officer leading them. None paid attention as a tall White officer barked order to open fire on the crowd. At that moment, Haricharan found that a leather strap on the footwear had given way. As he bent down to set it right, bullets began to whizz past his ears.Many attempted to flee. But his great-grandfather stood focussed in his endeavor to set right the strap. Eyewitness account says that a man almost succeeded in dodging the bullets until he tripped over Haricharan?s inclined figure, and went face first in a nearby well. Haricharan was oblivious to the mayhem around him as he continued with his objective.By the time the strap was set right, the ground seemed empty. Unnerved but relieved of having been left alive by providence, he decided to make a run for it. He never spoke about the incident, until years later, by which time his son, Sreecharan, had grown into a school-going, marble playing, brat of 13. Battered by the elements, the footwear had become hard as rock and hardly served the purpose it had been manufactured. Yet it was safeguarded like precious jewels, safe in a trunk. Sreecharan being curious as a cat, once dared to open the trunk in the absence of his father.Even as he opened the trunk, a nasty smell struck his nostrils. Little Sreecharan soon came upon the reason ? a pair of footwear. Ignorant of the value his father had attached to the prized possession, the boy flung the stuff far and wide through the open window.Circumstances are yet unclear, but history has it that an anti-British procession was winding its way through the lanes adjoining his house. The footwear struck the head of a white police official known for brutality, leading to his untimely death. This culminated in a lathicharge on the protestors. His father hurried home fearing an impending curfew in the town. Little Sreecharan received the first taste of physical punishment and worse, some lessons on history from his father. The son ambled along the lanes in shame and pain, finally managing to track down the prized footwear among the assortment left behind by fleeing protestors. And so goes the story, his father grew up feeding on the stories of the famed footwear. Gurucharan says, his father kept the pair with him, as he stood hearing Nehru?s famous freedom speech in ?47.Later he carried them during the anti-Emergency movement and many other agitations that were to follow. It was the personal and emotional bonding with his father?s leather footwear that made a now seemingly well-off Sreecharan to decide on opening a footwear shop in Punjab.However, he later shifted the shop to Coimbatore in the late 80?s, a fall-out of insurgency problem. Despite ostensible losses, he has never closed it, save for Sundays. Thankfully, his son, a lawyer, insists he isn?t interested in the business. Gurucharan continues to get legal clients at his home, where he ?entertains? them with stories about the footwear. I heard a few days ago, that his clientele had declined steadily. Maybe it was the stories that had driven them away or his ineffectual professional arguments. No one is sure yet. As for the footwear, it's still in his posession.
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