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June 18, 2007

Let there be shoes

My reasons why shoes should be allowed inside temples:

1. God is in everything, every particle. So god is in dust and dirt also. Then whats the point of keep god in that form out of temples.

2. If cleanliness is the reason, just go an take a look at the churches, they are cleaner than many of the temples. Even though shoes are allowed there.

3. Many people have a habit of washing their feet at the entry of temples. Psychologically this may sound all sacred and all, actually they are making the temples dirtier, wet feet make the floor wet and then dirt sticks more to the wet areas.

Now my reasons against the custom of removing shoes before entering homes:

1. It is particularly risky for diabetic people. Diabetics are particularly susceptible to foot infections and other foot related problems. Walking bare feet can create lots of problems for diabetics and in some extreme cases of infection even requite amputation.

http://www.blu-birdmedical.com/html/diabetes.html
http://www.diabetes.org/type-2-diabetes/foot-care.jsp
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/13/world/asia/13diabetes.html?pagewanted=3&ei=5070&en=73ba2f09942a794f&ex=1182312000

2. The practice might help keeping the homes cleaner, but it also helps keeping the feet of most people really dirty. Thats because its not really possible to keep the floor completely dust free, all that deposits on to the feet of people. Then they climb the beds with the same feet and god help the bedsheets :P.

3. Walking on hard floor is bad for the feet. A hard floor gives no cushion to the sole. Since we mostly have concrete or marble floors in India, which is not going to change in the near future, wearing shoes or slippers inside homes can provide the support needed to walk on bare floor.

http://www.stagestep.com/Aeson_needtoknow.html

4. This has resulted in most of the people wearing floaters because they can be removed easily. These days you hardly see people wearing shoes around Bangalore. Whatever happened to fashion. To me, floaters look plain ugly, more-so if the person wearing floaters has really dirty, scaled, dry feet, with cracks on the heels. These ugly feet are again the result of walking bare feet and not wearing shoes (not to discount lack of care). People who regularly wear shoes have neater feet, as they remain protected, clean and moist.