Do your feet converse with earth? asked the elderly toddy tapper, who now led a retired life but generally accompanied his young son who had taken up the profession. I looked at my feet as if they had sprouted suddenly from nowhere. The surprise was immediately replaced with embarrassment then as quickly followed by disgust. His remark reminded me that I had skipped yet again the much required pedicure that would have given my feet a semblance of decent life.
I quickly excused myself and went in to get hot tea and snacks for him and his son. Bai, I know you don’t keep good health, he observed. Hmmm, I responded, not very keen to carry on a conversation that revolved around my health and moreover my loathsome feet. When was the last time you treaded barefeet on earth, he prodded.
I sat mutely, trying to recall, when was the last time, I had actually placed my naked feet on any form of terrain, so that they could have the much required tete a tete with one another, like some long lost lovers. Instantly, the yesteryears hero Rajkumar, from Pakeezah loomed up in my mind’s eye…’Aap ke paon dekhe, bahut hasin hain, inhen zameen par mat utaryega maile ho jayenge’. (I’ve seen your feet, extremely adorable, please don’t place them on the ground, they’ll get soiled)
I mentally giggled at the thought. Imagine someone expressing such sentiments for my stinking feet. Bai, he urged, hmmm, I responded, not even on the beaches did I relieve my feet from their ensnarement. I justified my deed, not when the beaches are strewn with broken bottles, syringes and all the spew that the ocean thrusts back on mankind. In fact it seemed ages that I last went to a shoreline, and waded in the waters, at best I sat in the shack nursing a fruit punch and gobbling away as if there is no tomorrow.
Not even in your own ‘porsum’, I heard him address me rather accusingly. Na, I nodded, you see I told him matter of factly, I have couple of pets who relieve themselves out there, and I continued in the same breath, I don’t want to be caught unawares, finding my feet kissing soggy stuff, or place my feet there even after it’s cleared for good. Tttch, tttch, he rebuked, and I wondered that instant, did the great artist MFHussein encounter these lay woman’s problems as he had gone about his way of life barefooted.
Take the advice of this old fool he told me, shed your footwear and you’ll revive your health. I smiled meekly and bade goodbye to the father son duo and sighed with relief. But his parting statement made me give it a thought. I did a quick read up and realised the innumerable benefits of being grounded, permitting the feet to converse with the earth, how well, he had worded it, such a simple yet effective prescription for good health. Bless him, a prayer escaped my lips.
This invincible connect of the feet and earth, was not lost on our ancestors, our sages knew it and so did the innumerable philosophers. The wise poet Khalil Gibran puts it aptly, “And forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair”. Such simple delights we tend to overlook, and this lapse does not escape without taking its toll on our health.
