My Brother's Shoe

My brothers: Tenzin & Samtey

Both my little brothers outgrew my height. I feel secure walking with them. Can't believe I carried them on my back once, fought for them, and thrashed them often. I am happy they grew into gentlemen I could be proud of. But I never thought their feet will outgrow the shoes in market, especially Samten's.

He had to leave school for about a month when he was in class eight just because we couldn't get him a shoe of his size. Despite the help of all our relatives in Thimphu we couldn't get one there. Finally I had to go to Phuntsholing to try my luck. I got one, ugly and shapeless but big enough to room his feet. If it continued that way I thought my brother could never complete his studies, he still had many more years to grow. Luckily, Origin shoes arrived in gigantic sizes and we never had problems.

Smaller on is mine and I wear no.8, Guess his size?

But now, days of wearing Origin shoes are gone for him and no shoe stores in Wangdue, Punakha and Thimphu sell formal shoes bigger than number 8. I didn't realized it until I went looking for it in Thimphu. I went to every shop that sold shoes and they all tell me the same story.

Today is my lucky day, I got one for him finally... style, color, and quality do not matter as long as it fits him and it did. So this article is to celebrate the occasion along with my wife's Birthday. She is happy too that I got a shoe for him and she wants no gift more than this.