Individuality

Most of the time it happens to me, I buy footwear and then suffer a shoe bite. I am a shoe fetish so often end up victimising myself. I often find people complaining about shoe bites mostly women. Why does this happen?

I think it's due to categorization, which is believed to make life a lot easier. All of us are categorized according to foot size, indifferent to the fact that our feet are different. Categorization makes shoe manufacturing for masses easier.

This happens to all of us, we are often categorized as being male or female, rich or poor, developed or developing, black or white, genius or idiot, atheist or theist and so forth for the ease of differentiation. All of us love to believe that we are different from the rest of the others but still somewhere get lured into being categorized, thereby loosing our individuality.

I deliberately want to stay aloof from this; sometimes I don't want to be a feminist or an Indian. I simply want to be human retain my sensibility and sensitivity even to most feeble and strangest of emotion and behave globally. This sometimes puts me in the dilemma; I remember when Ajmal Kasab was hanged. I felt he was an ordinary unfortunate boy who paid for being born to unfortunate parents. Had he been given the choice he would have never chosen that life. So, when I think like this am I not being Indian. Or simply, when I keep an eye on what my young sisters' are wearing when they are leaving for college. Then am I being conservative or a chauvinist who wants women to be presented in a certain prescribed way.

All I want is to be a modest naive human free from all generalizations that reduce us to being clones, ripping us from our individuality.

But, what about my shoe problem?

In my early years, I often visited my village where once I was being taken to a cobbler's shop. The cobbler took the measurement of my foot. After two days, my new sandals were ready they were comfortable but not fancy and later I found them bore as they were quite sturdy so lasted long.

So, should I once again try for those cobbler made plane and comfortable sandals?