Chappal Chor

Chappal Chor




Yesterday an article in TOI had me laughing. It seems there are people who steal shoes in America ! I thought that people only steal in India. Like my friend here who has a branded shoe store, a guy comes in. tries a 5000 shoe one pair, then says let me try the other one, wears , walks, and suddenly runs out of the store, and there his friend is waiting on a running bike, and off they zoom.




He leaves behindhis beloved old shoe for the shop keeper to beat his head with.


Foot loot: Cunning crooks devise a new way to steal sneakers from store displays | Daily Mail Online


Well in New York, it works like this. Some shops just keep the left shoe on display. He wears, likes, and when the salesman is looking the other way, runs away with the left one. Well a shop selling the same brand in the same street ahead, keeps the right shoes on display.




Same stunt tried there, and this guy gets a new shoe, while the shopkeepers are left with one side of the shoe each. Well if they are friends, they can put the left and the right, sell, and share the sale proceeds, and cut the loss eh ! Who knows !



And how can that be prevented? Why not all shoe stores, have just the left or the rigth displayed, so that taking away one shoe would make no sense for the theif, for all the stores would be keeping that one only on display !




In Mumbai, when we used to go for condolences, and eave our shoes , most of the times, the good ones would be stolen. I have myself walked barefeet home many a times. Now what we do is, have a pair of silly slippers always in car, in the boot. Rather a few pairs, of different sizes. When we go to the condolence meet, we remove our shoes in the car, wear the slippers and go. The slippers are so wornout and cheap, no self respecting theif would steal the slippers, its just not worth his efforts.




Reminds me of the shoe scams of the sixties, tole to me by my Dad. In those days , imports were restricted, u had to buy an import licence to import just about anything. And import duties could go up to 300 percent of the price, hence the underinvoicing etc. One fellow came up with a brainwave.




He imported shoes, the left pairs packed off for say Calcutta, and the right pair landed at Mumbai port. The importer refused to clear the goods, saying there was a mistake from the shipper, and what will he doe with the all left pairs. Well they were auctioned by the customs, and his cronies bid and took them dirt cheap.




Ame they did with the right pairs in Mumbai, got that cheap at the auction, then mixed the two and sold at a handsome profit, maybe sharing with some officials who may have smelled a rat.




This is the first part of the scam. Here is the second part. Since he did nto take delivery of the goods, he used the import licence again to import, this time the goods landed the same way, but in different ports, say vizag, and kandla. Again the auction, the purchase, and huge profits.




Those days we swore on the shoes made in Agra. They were strong, sturdy, and decent looking with a good polish and leather. In mumbai we used to go to Grant Road for these Agra shoes, will the richer people went to Colaba to Stores like Regal, Metrol and others. Bata was old fashioned then.




Well I was surprised to see the other day, a Bata shop having this written on their showcase
DUE TO TODAY’S FASHIONS, THERE IS NO GUARANTEE !!! Imagine Bata saying this, whose shoes used to last for generations, with a few repairs done by the mochi. Times change.





A Wall street broker is divorcing his wife, and demanding that he be given half the shoes , 1000 pairs expensive ones, that his wife owns.




Wall Street mogul Daniel Shak sues ex-wife Beth over her $1m shoe collection | Daily Mail Online



Daniel Shak who is in divorce proceddings, has told the judge that his wife has spent a million dollors of his hard earned money on her shoes, and he wants 35 percent of her shoes. He says he was unaware of her large collection, which she kept in a secret room in the apartment !!!!



HAHA.




Please read it, makes for a good reading, but what I dotn understand is , what would she be doing wioth so many shoes ? Well like I read here, some ladies have hundreds of sarees and still want more eh !




To each their own, eh !




KAMAL MAHTANI

 

Dear Aruna,
Yes this happened in America so this tickled me no end. Now they dont dare point fingers at us . So Arti cost you yr shoes. Do u know a few NRI wedding i have attended, the bride and the groom take pheras with shoes on, when it is in 5 star, where shoes dont get stolen, but the boy does not want to pay for his shoes to his sister in law, as is the custom.HAHA

Well one such weddign ended in divorce, were the gods angry that the saat pheras were performed with shoes on? Well i am not superstitous, but who knows.HAHA

Yes and with shoes being pretty expensive these days, who wants to take chances eh !

Regards

kamal

 

Dear Aks,

i have not seen the movie, but it was an interestign one in those days. i know of many , let the time come, barefeet, well my feet are tender, so i carry the silly rubber slippers where3ever i go, one pair is there in eachcar of mine, who knows it is raining, at least i have that cheap one.

HAHA

REgads

kamal

 

Dear Oysterzzz,

Welcome to my blogs. Good idea this, yes a theif does not have too much time really for all this.So if he sees one part of the shoe, he will not take it. An excellent idea really.The problem is to remember where did u keep the other part.HAHA

Regards

kamal

 

Dear Vishwa,

Yes alld evoted to shoes. i could have added the Almeda Marcos , and her collection of shoes, or the Nizam of Hyderabad, but the blog was getting long.

Yes what would he do with the shoes, but to spite her. what if they had a dog, would they have cut it off inhalf ?

i wonder.

Regards

kamal