18/02/24 The best gift

Share one of the best gifts you’ve ever received.

Growing up, mum had two really dressy pairs of slippers. Ones that were exclusively for parties and events. She used to save these two pairs. One was a pair of white slip-ons that we used to refer to as Cinderella slippers and the other a single strap black coloured stiletto. We called the second one the black stiletto. No fancy name, just what it was. But both inspired the damsel in me. The stiletto was a couple of sizes too big, but the white Cinderella slippers was just one size big. I remember wearing them around the house, because I found where my mum used to hide them. Mum was unaware that I was wearing them around, I was too young to be wearing heels and she had told me so. This was disobedience and nothing else. I even wore it to play Lagori or Pittu as it’s also known, with my friends on the street. I was the cause for the heel to wear off, I had no idea what that meant until many years later when the older sibling picked up heels to wear to work. I used to sometimes go with her to the cobbler to ‘re-sole’ the heel, and that’s when I learnt what it meant when someone said, the heel was worn off. Anyway, I ruined the Cinderella slippers without my mum knowing it and silently hid it back where I found it, so when she wanted to wear it and looked for it, she found a pair of tattered footwear instead of the namesake from Disneyland. She was upset, with reason, but chose to let the matter be. She had looked for it, to give it to me to wear to school. If I had not worn it to play on the streets, or run around with it, then I could’ve worn it to school for an event and been the envy of my friends. Well, water under the bridge, I guess!

So I was at the eve of the event (my birthday) and I had to have a pair of shoes that was not the prescribed school footwear. Unfortunately, none of the siblings had one I could’ve borrowed that evening. So mum told me to come with her on the bike to the market to get me a pair. We walked up and down, this was my first shopping trip. I had never had the time or interest to go shopping before and I was intrigued with what I was seeing in the store. I found a pair of white wedges I thought were nice, but they were above the budget mum had for me. She told me to pick a pair of hawaianas but I thought they were tacky as footwear and refused. I was looking for the one pair that would talk to my soul. We must’ve walked around the same ten stores for over two hours. Mum was a sport to walk with me patiently helping me select and identify the ‘one’.

And then I saw it- the Blood red shoe. It was made of some kind of plastic polymer, that was dyed red, and it had an ugly black plastic heel. It was what you refer to today as kitten heels. And it looked exactly like this 👠 . Red plastic cover, with black heels. I thought it was the most awesome pair ever. Mum told me it would not match my dress which was a lemon yellow salwar kameez (an Indian outfit). But the footwear had called to me and I was in awe. I loved it. It was on budget, same cost as the hawaianas. Mum had no choice but to get it for me. She told me I won’t be able to run in then, and I quickly responded that I had practiced in the Cinderella slippers and I could definitely run in these as well. She then said, it was not as pretty as the ones I had ruined and I was upset that I had broken that one, but I apologised and begged and even the store owner took pity and added an extra discount on it. Cornered, mum got me my first pair of heels with the promise that I would wear it everywhere for all events without a complaint and I would not ever wear it to play. Obviously she knew something I didn’t then, but would learn soon enough.

I came back home, grinning from ear to ear happy with the pair I had got and excited to make my siblings envy me. I just took my pair of shoes and went and put it in front of God, in the puja room for blessings. Traditionally, you place any new item you get in front of God and take their blessings. This is true for all items, clothes, inner wear, even socks, never shoes. But I’ve balked at tradition and at that age, I had absolutely no clue, I always assumed that the family were not as thrilled with their footwear as I was and hence they had never taken it in for blessings. But I was beyond thrilled, I was ecstatic and I wanted those blessings on those shoes. So it landed on the offering plate in the one room in the home where you never wore footwear, ever. Dad found it hilarious, mum was aghast and I had no clue why the siblings were smirking. Mum told me quietly to bring it out of the room, and here I was arguing with her about how she never valued my stuff. I knew I had upset her, but had no clue how bad it was. Mum never got silent, but if she did, then she was very upset, and you had to watch out. She was upset, and I was excited, I brought it out, showed it to her and hugged her and said, I only wanted it to be blessed. I won’t take it in ever.

That was the first time the family saw the shoes, and they were shocked into silence. Like they say, hindsight is 20×20. At that point in time, I thought it was the best pair ever. But OMG! Was it ugly! I have to hand it to the family, everyone was encouraging and my siblings who were going through their teens tempered their responses to appreciative/supportive ones. The next day I wore it to school, and shocked everyone into silence. Or so I thought! Everyone was stunned by the ugliest pair of shoes ever. It definitely did not match the clothes I was wearing, but I was too excited to notice the less than enthusiastic responses from the friends. I have never ventured toward red shoes since then, but to be honest, these were the best gift anyone could’ve given me. I wish I had a picture of that pair, but good lord!! I shudder to think how I would react if my kids came back to tell me they wanted a pair of tacky red shoes.