People are grievously offended by rubber slippers. Rubber slippers, flip-flops, thongs, or bathroom slippers. The latter is the mental connotation, as in something you wear to a wet bathroom. I had some two thousand rupee chappals which were fine, until they got wet and unshapely and finally, like, moldy. I have shoes, but those require socks, and it’s hot out. I really don’t understand why I can’t wear rubber slippers. Are my toes so offensive to God and man. Once I went for a homecoming of somebody I barely knew. I just showed up, in rubber slippers. It was at some local wedding hall way out past Kelaniya. Everyone was laughing at me. It was the thing. I felt horrified in the buffet line. But it’s hot out, we were in the grass, and it’s a tropical country. I don’t quite get it.
I mean, I get shoes. Shoes are important. I used to take great pride in my shoes in the west. One of my earliest memories is some childhood fantasy involving brown Adidas knockoffs. This was in Sri Lanka. I can’t tell most memories from photographs, but this was a dream and thus I know it was mine. It involved me getting these awesome shoes and then showing up at my Montesoori thing in a helicopter, getting off shoes first into the swirling dust. But I digress. Shoes are well and good, except in extreme weather. Then who cares.
In fashionable Montreal even, when the real vicious winter hit I stopped caring. Montreal actual has an underground city that you don’t have to leave. If you live in an apartment complex you can go down to the metro and supermarkets below and – with a job in another building – never leave. I didn’t have this option and I trudged to school most days. The snow is beautiful when it first falls, a pure virgin white. Then the cars come and it gets fucked, turning into a grey, depressing soup, piled in foot high piles and corroding everything it touches with much and salt. The salt. The salt simply destroys shoes. You can never keep them clean. I just gave up and wore hideous snow boots to office and changed into loafers there. After a while you just give up.
In Sri Lanka the opposite is true. First off, it’s hot. Not so hot that you can’t wear shoes, but hot enough that it’s unpleasant. Wearing clothes at all is disdainful, wearing a towel ideal, a sarong second best and anything else is just kidding yourself. This is a tropical country and pants on a human here makes about as much sense as pants on a monkey. Socks are just torment. Tight and thick cloth against your feet, and then putting the whole thing in leather. Why?
Also, when it rains, everything just goes to muck. The city of Colombo floods after a thirty minute shower. This ruins leather sandals and wet socks are a special kind of uncomfortable. The only thing that can withstand all conditions here – beach, jungle, city, wet – is a pair of rubber slippers. It is also the most taboo. Like, how dare you be sensible? Don’t you remember we were colonized by the British.
Instead, proper clubs and events require shoes. Bad shoes mind you, the guys looking down on me at that homecoming were wearing fake leather with buckles and big pimp juice collars outside their suit jackets. It’s not like we even do western formal properly. Instead of ‘smart casual’ on invites they should put ‘lounge singer’.
Recently I went for an office for a business chat with friends and they were like, why rubbers? Meh. Like I need to be itching in socks and with a shirt tuck highlighting my belly to fit in to the A/C? Why not say everyone needs to wear national and lower the electricity bill? That’s why I like Hindu kovils the best. Shirt, shoes: No service. I’ll take that dress code any day.
Flip flops are comfy, sexy even, and fine if you only had to get off the car and on to a pavement, and quickly indoors. But if you had to use public transport here or had to walk on the roads for any distance you end up with dusty or muddy toes, or worse.
I travel by train a lot, which is lovely. But once you get off you need to always keep your head down to avoid saliva, discarded betel cud, slimy mucus stuff, bird droppings half eaten food and whatnot.
For girls using public transport I highly recommend this really comfy ankle boot like thing available at Temptations, Majestic city with leather upper and rubber sole, reasonably priced and lasts for ages. Looks nice with pants.
Around the house, the less you wear the better and nothing at night is the patriotic thing to do, keeps electricity consumption to a minimum.
I know what you mean man. I mean even shopping malls look down upon you when you wear rubbers, it’s as if they expect us to come in in ties and coats. We’ve got a baaad colonial hangover. -___-
When in Rome…
Montreal – Long time ago now no? Time to get on with it, you’re in Sri Lanka now mate! (Lucky you)
Oh dude slippers are the best. The cheap bata one especially. I have worn those everywhere from NYC to St. Petersburg
Rubber slippers look ugly, but leather or patent leather slippers should be ok.
The difference between rubber slippers and leather is equivalent to the difference between casual shoes and formal shoes.
I don’t like slippers much because I hate sand getting in my toes but for a short outing indoors they are very convenient.
blasphemer
Patent leather is too feminine for men. Even women look overdressed in patent.
what the hell is patent leather?
nevermind, i googled it.
Jack Point, you shouldn’t be caught dead wearing that
heh heh just a little fetish…
I like rubber slippers, but they kill your feet (specially if you have low arches) and are overall pretty bad for your back as they have no arch support. Sandals are just weird, so shoes it is. I can only wear rubber slippers indoors or something (prefer barefoot). Not much fun really walking around in SL wearing rubber slippers unless you love that feeling of dust/mud on your feet.
I guess you can wear flip-flops when visiting jungles in the comforts of a safari jeep.
However, if you are likely access jungles by foot, and are likely to veer off main trails into spots strewn with leaf litter and grassy vegetaion, on a regular basis, flip-flops are recommended because of the high risk of getting a nasty bite by a deadlyvenomous snake.
Sri Lanka is often ranked no.1 or 2 in the list of countries with highest number of human mortalities due to snake envenomation—6 out of 100,000 according to one source.Plus, there’s high risk of getting Leptospirosis during rainy times—and that ain’t no minor disease.
This is why I rely heavily on my trustywellington boots, and other hiking boots.
I often wear these with regular socks and leech socks. I have got used to wearing them. I am happy to bear the minor discomfort they cause; I’d rather have itchy feet with the odd fungal infection than ending up with a limb in bad shape like this.
Opps! I don’t know why it some text turned bold like that!
“vegetaion” should be vegetation.
And with regard to Leptospirosis I meant, “and that ain’t a minor disease.”
We sometimes get somethng that looks remarkably like that Russel’s viper at the bottom of our garden bordering an abandoned paddy field. Though wary of them, we usually assume that the large monitors that roam around would take care of them. Once a hefty specimen had ventured quite near the house and was making a puffing noise at the dog who seemed terrified. It was almost golden brown, with pretty markings and almost thick as a wrist with a tiny head. Those pics. have just freaked me out. Here we would only get an anti-venom shot at the hospital, right?
In the first comment, “.. flip-flops are not recommended …”, I should have written. I was in Saturday spirits when I typed it, sorry. :)
@Shammi, with the habitat, diagnostics, and behaviour explained, it is very likely a Russel’s.
Yes, they treat here with anti-venom. But some rural hospitals do not have them and you have to go to the next best hosptal in the nearest town. And that can be about 20-30 km away from the jungles.
In worse case scenarios, they’d do skin grafting surgery in Sri Lanka I suppose.
Not sure which fate would be worse, dying painfully but quickly from the venom or going through serial surgery.