My First Pair of Reebok Shoes

During our school days most of us used to wear Bata Naughty Boy shoes. In fact, I’m not able to recollect any other name other than Naughty Boy. Oh yes, how can I forget those Action Shoes which I always used to wear outside school. But my bonding with action shoes soon died after I passed out of school.  During my college days I experimented with few different genres, but never tried any massive brand. When I got my first job out here in Bangalore, I remember that I brought a pair of Reebok Shoes, most probably with my second salary. Aha, it looked so trendy and was very light. For the first time when I wore those shoes I felt so damn proud and comfortable. Even though the price was around 4 to 5 times higher than the kind of shoes which I usually used to buy earlier, my wallet didn't feel very embarrassed about it.

After a couple of days, weekend arrived. During those days weekend was like a festival for us and usually lasted continuously for 2 days. That particular weekend I and Lami decided to visit our friends in R.T. Nagar. Well, initially we stayed at that place for almost 3 months and later shifted to other parts of Bangalore. Life in R.T. Nagar was really cool and we made some very good friends out there. Those guys used to stay in a house which was just beside the busy street. It was pretty much a commercial kind of place with all different kind of shops all around. All my friends inquired about my new shoes and complimented me in their own styles. I really felt proud that moment. I noticed a collection of shoes all placed in a linear fashion in the hall, pretty close to the main door. Well, I placed my shoes at the end. I mean along with the other shoes but at the farthest distance from the door. My shoes looked like Yuvraj out there with a bunch of old shoes. My ones were of white color with black stripes on them. They were shinning and with the magnificent Reebok logo they looked so damn attractive.

We met our friends after a long time and most probably that was our first visit after we shifted from that place. We had such a wonderful time with friends, Old Monk and those lovely/yummy chickens. We gossiped the entire night and as expected, everyone woke up late. It was already noon and we went to a nearby bakery to have tea and egg-puff out there. Well, egg-puffs are very popular in Bangalore and it’s kind of savior for the bachelors, pretty similar to Vada Pav in Mumbai.  One of our friends was inside the house as he already had his breakfast. He was busy with his desktop in a room adjacent to the hall. 

After having tea we returned within 10 to 15 minutes. The main door was slightly open and as soon as we entered my eyes tried to strike at my shoes. All the shoes were exactly at the same position as it was placed earlier. But I couldn’t find my shoes. I was not very much worried and thought someone might be enjoying little bit of fun. 

“Don’t panic, it must be somewhere here” one of my friends said.

I searched all over the house and it wasn't there. One more friend was not in the house that moment and they said that he must have worn my new shoes. A little later even he also arrived with his own pair of shoes. That time everyone started to get little worried. We asked the guy who was inside the house that tragic moment. We asked him whether he heard anyone entering the house. He replied that he didn’t hear anything and was busy with his computer. We went outside the house on the street. Everyone seemed to be so busy with their own life, the shopkeepers, the customers. Few kids were playing nearby and we were absolutely clueless about my brand new pair of Reebok shoes.  After sometime we went back inside the house. The whole day everyone just talked about my shoes and sometimes they even used to laugh a bit. It was already evening and I still couldn’t recover from the trauma yet. It was time to go home and I couldn’t have gone barefooted. The guys showed sympathy towards me and offered their shoes. They said I could return them by next weekend. But all their shoes looked as if they wouldn't have fitted me. I decided to wear a pair of Hawai Chappals. A little later I and Lami took an auto and left from there.