A Step in style !

One of the greatest thrills of life is to take a walk, or better borrowing Lou Reed’s famous number title “Take a walk on the wild side”

The most important asset you must have to indulge in this is a pair of shoes, not just an ordinary good pair of shoes but a great pair of shoes.

A pair which is not conditional in its companionship, but which like me just takes life in its stride – come what may. In my style I can say – I would like to step in to the unknown, with a companion I can trust. For me first and foremost, Shoes are leather. I restrict usage of sports shoes to what they are meant for, morning walks and running around. But comfort wear shoes for me are always a great pair of leather shoes.

Over the years my trusty Lee Cooper pairs have been just that. I am not much of an admirer of shoes which are very formal, soft leather uppers, shiny with slender strings for shoe laces. The ones which die without a regular coat of polish at least once a week, and a few stitches from your friendly neighborhood cobbler if you stretch them a bit more. Like stepping out of air conditioned offices, using public transport and of course tough weather is something the normal moccasins do not like for a lifestyle. The moment you decide to stop your car and step off the concrete in to the wild, the first things you need to leave behind are those nice, soft, shiny leather shoes. My shoes take a heavy beating and just about last a year with me; even when I pair them  with a  pair of  synthetic leather shoes for the monsoon.

While the world is crazy about Italian leather footwear and politicians, I prefer a pair which look and act more “industrial”. The philosophy is pretty straight forward. They go where I go.

I remember my first pair of Lee Coopers years back when I first noticed them in a Shoppers Stop shoe gallery. My loves and likes are based on instincts and not logic, processes and some applied techniques which I can put to words here. Needless to say I bought them as they were love at first sight. We were just made for each other – in office, on road and off them, in dry and the wet. Every morning slipping my feet in to my pair of Lee Coopers was (and still is !) an awesome experience. Slipping out of them is always a sad part for I know then that my feet are now vulnerable, no longer protected.

I am not known to be a very caring man who intimately cares for things I love. I just leave my things and people to rough out, once in a while to give them an overdose of my love and caring in unprecedented ways. This philosophy works brilliantly when it comes to taking care of my Lee Coopers. I rather weather them out, instead of caring, polishing them, shining them every day or perhaps a week. This is left to my discretion when I am in one of my generous moods to care for them.

Yet they have delivered for me. All my bike rides were very personal to me and I used to take them only wearing my Lee Coopers for footwear. No sport shoes, sneakers or plain slippers for me on my Honda bike. It paid off and how !

During my only (so far) slip along with the bike, I was unfortunate to have my ankle hard pressed against the bike exhaust and the hard concrete. I was sheer luck that it decided not to snap. However I did not realize how tragic it could have been, till I saw the fried inner side of my right Lee Cooper. It was a shock to see the scalded shoe. I repaid the gratitude by wearing the pair for its life till it was replaced with another of its breeds.

My trusty Lee Coopers have always been with me in foreign lands. Enduring sub zero temperatures of a cold European winters, Extremely hot moisture laden weather of South East Asia, Extreme heat and dust of the Indian sub continent. They have been by my side when I lost my way so many times in the US of A.

They have endured the heavy monsoon floods in Mumbai, including the infamous 26-July floods. I have never had to worry about season changes, terrain changes or anything else under the Sun. All I had to do was walk, and my Lee Coopers held on tightly all the way.

Today I brought yet another of those pairs. The Shoppers Stop salesman showed me the latest in fashion swanky Italian collections, they showed me similar style but “cheaper” price tag brands, and also some other gimmicks on sale as shoes.

But for me it was only a Lee Cooper. This time I got myself a pair form the hardy Texas collection.