Interesting Possibilities

Interesting Possibilities

NEWS ITEM: Journalist Hurls Shoe at P Chidambaram
New Delhi:  A journalist threw a shoe at Home Minister P Chidambaram at a press conference on Tuesday, the shoe did not hit the minister and the journalist, a senior reporter with Dainik Jagran, was taken into custody.
It is the first of its kind incident in India but throwing shoes at political leaders has become a high-profile form of protest. The trend was started by an Iraqi journalist who had thrown shoes at former US President George Bush at a press conference in Baghdad last year.

Waking up with such News in the box sometimes brings a smile: P … I know such a statement could be labeled as wrong, maybe sadistic too, but the smile was for totally different reasons.
Just Imagine – Mr P Chitambaram going down in the history books of India as the first EVER politician in India who has had a shoe hurled at him by irate audience. I can see the kids cramming up this fact while going for General knowledge tests and Quiz competitions.
That reporter now has a feather in his cap and would certainly make a note in his CV as an effective and FIRST Shoe hurler ever! After all, it is to his credit that he implemented such a potent indigenous way of showing protest. Not to speak of his “sense of involvement” and “going beyond the call of duty “; after all it takes a really gutsy reporter to NOT be impassive, much against the teachings in all the Collages of Mass Communication!

Which brings us to another point AND connected with it some ideas of coming up with trumps in the present day recession hit market.
The point being- was the reporter a Male or a female?  By which, what I am getting at is whether the act was an extension of A Belan ( rolling Pin ) wielding avatar of the gentler sex or an offshoot of the basic stone throwing instinct of the man.
Now the off-take…..
With elections due in India (and unless the various political parties can come up with plans to ensure that their audience in rallies comes barefooted) I think the shoe manufacturers can hope to make some gains even in this period of recession hit economy. I can foresee some entrepreneur coming up with stuff like –

” Buy flier shoes – economical , light with ergonomically designed  grip that makes it easy to throw”

” Recyclable shoes, ideal for throwing.

” Best buy offer , but one get one free ”

“( For Women )  Buy our stilettos , Best for home use ( scary thought , that ! ) and also political rallies”.

” our shoes fly the furthest and deliver on target “.

Or maybe even something like this –

“Our shoes come with heat seeking missile technology, sure to hit the target! ”

So it is high time some investment went into development of this novel form of expression of discontent.