A Slipper Show

All of it started with an announcement on a hot sunny day which went on somewhat like this-

"......uhm, these days students are suffering from too much diseases of the feet. So we have decided that you all will wear slippers for the next three weeks."

I was like- did I hear myself right? Slippers in school? For three weeks? And so on went the series of questions in my mind. My brain was bombarded with unimaginably silly questions and stupid queries in the next three minute meditation that followed the assembly. Technically I was just following the rules of meditation of focusing mind on a single object- just the difference was that the subject I was focusing on was slippers. Thinking three minutes on it was quite tough but I couldn't get myself to think about anything else. Hardly had everyone entered the classroom when the students got themselves busy in buzzing about the new rule.....if I heard them right the girls had already begun discussing the colors of slippers they were going to wear the next day.

He he..I laughed under my breath...all of them were really up to something. But for me slippers in school was too informal. Nevertheless for a moment or two I too thought about what I was going to wear the next day. The so called next day took the same number of hours to arrive as it used to in the other days but it felt much longer than usual. I wore my uniform and as everyday I searched for my socks when my mind reminded me of the unusual announcement.

Yipee...goodbye to stinky socks I said and wore my kitoes. Along with my well packed bag I stepped out my room and made my way into the kitchen for breakfast. Seeing my feet with no shoes on my parents asked whether my leg was okay or not. That is when I shared them the latest news. After having completed all the getting-ready stuffs, I went to call my friend who looked totally lost in the long array of slippers she had. With the most confused of all expressions she asked me- "Ammu which one to wear ya, I am in a big dilemma."

Concealing the laughter that arose immediately I selected a flowery one for her, freeing her of all the confusion and doubts. Both of us walked on towards the bus stop. On the way we met some students of the nearby private school. Their eyes were boring into us and it was undoubtedly focusing on our feet. "Hey have you guys got wounds on your legs?" asked one girl bringing out the question that was ringing in everyone's brain. Quite offended we replied them with a stern 'no' and told them about the new school rule. This was just a small group and never did we know that there were more questions to be tackled before reaching our destination.

Another guy who was our former classmate raised his rather bushy eyebrows and asked simply-"Slippers?" this time we were irritated at the curt and annoying question and replied simply-"School rule." matching the standard of the question he asked. We felt like some inferior quality goods found in the markets and the eyes of the people staring at us was really disturbing. Murmuring about the monotonous question to each other we rushed towards the bus in which the driver was impatiently waiting with the roaring engine. Within six or seven minutes we reached the school. Within a fraction of seconds I began scanning my surrounding.

The otherwise black shoed feet of the students were fitted with loose and oversized slippers. Grinning at them I moved on and in a short while the assembly began. The otherwise formal looking assembly was looking rather informal and above all the students looked silly with those comic slippers on. Seeing them it felt like some kind of slipper show was being carried out where everyone had to wear the best of what they had. The girls had their feet in those pink, violet and light blue flip-flops, most of which had a huge flower on it which managed to hide their toes. The boys on the other hand wore those ugly oversized foot-wears which they thought looked very cool. Worst of all was yet to come-the irritating sound of slippers being dragged. It can be rather annoying at times you see.

All of these added to the already absurd and silly looking school environment. With each passing day girls switched on from one slipper to the other and some of them even bought new foot wears saying that they didn't have enough. It really looked like students were now attending school to flaunt their slippers. But nothing lasted long, before the completion of three weeks the rule was amended and the shoe rule came back into existence. This rule was triggered back before time because of those students who refused to comply by the slipper rule.....thanks to them- we no longer have to wear the informal foot wears. School does look good and formal when everyone is in their complete uniform. Everything is back to normal and we no longer hear about any change in rules regarding the shoe.

By the way winter is approaching -will they now let us wear boots? God knows.