It’s very rare to find your prayers answered immediately! So I was pleasantly surprised recently when I found that a cobbler had materialized right in front of the bank as I came out after getting a Pay Order. Two straps of my new sandal had broken 3-4 days earlier and I had been unable to locate any cobbler. While waiting in the bank I had looked sadly at the straps dangling uselessly and wondered how I was going to manage the 10 minutes’ walk across to the courier. No self-respecting Mumbai cabbie would have been willing to take a fare for that short distance.

So, overjoyed at the sight of the cobbler, I handed him my sandal. As I stood with the heel of my shoeless leg resting on the cloth spread out in front of his shop, I felt weird – especially as a long line of cars formed right in front of me when the signal turned red. :-) Not wanting to turn in the direction facing the street, I turned my attention to his work and suddenly realized that it was quite some time since I had last watched a cobbler mend the shoes. The peculiar way that he knots the threads and the sharp instrument used to cut the thread’s ends seemed so very familiar from the school-going years. Mom had always scolded me saying that there must be something wrong in the way I walk – because in those days I had amassed quite a few Frequent Cobbler Miles at the friendly-neighborhood cobbler’s :-)

And then suddenly I wondered how much he will charge for the work. I didn’t seem to have any idea nor did I remember the figure from my childhood days to make a quick inflation-adjusted guess! Still, I hazarded about Rs 20 and waited for him to finish the job.

A final neat cut with that sharp tool and it was done. As he handed me back the mended sandal I asked him how much I owed – turned out it was Rs 7! I handed him the money and slipped the sandal back on. But as I walked on I looked over my shoulder again – just to make sure that the cobbler hadn’t evaporated back into thin air. He was still there. I don’t seem to be having enough Frequent Prayer Miles with God Almighty yet! :-)