The curious case of an abandoned pair of footwear

I am sure I would not have noticed it if I were travelling in a bus. But as it happened, I was going to office on a public holiday. Since the BEST had conveniently assumed that all offices would be closed and people won’t venture out on the streets, they had brought fewer buses on the road. That’s why I was in a rickshaw which was being driven by a man who clearly idolized Michael Schumacher!

Thanks to a series of red signals my much protesting back muscles and spines were getting periodic relief. I spotted the pair at one such signal. It was situated on the road below a flyover and looked as if the owner who had chucked it in a hurry might come at any moment to put it on again. Now, I have seen many a chappals fallen by the roadside – flung by their owners, angry that it should break right in the middle of their walking. But rarely, I have spotted a pair – that too one in a perfectly working condition, as much as could judge from a distance.

The reactions of the passersby were a mini study in human behavior. Some people were in such a hurry that they didn’t so much as glance at the pair. Some noticed only when they stumbled across it – and yet, didn’t bother moving them aside in a corner. A few curious souls took a quick glance around to see if they can see the owner and then hurried along. What a curious bunch of people we Mumbaikars are!

Well, the signal did turn green in what seemed like an eternity. I glanced at the pair once again as the rickshaw pulled away – wondering about, like many that day, just what their story was.