This morning my attention was caught by a news article in a local sunday newspaper where more incidents pertaining to shoe hurling at eminant personalities in very recent times were reported.Curiously enough,all shoe hurling incidents on record are centered around politicians that reflect the multiple challenges and ossilations of fortune that are normally encountered in this powerful and much looked to profession.
Well, according to the news account in the Sunday Times of SriLanka ,in the political hotbed of Kashmir in India,the Chief Minister Abdullah was assailed with a shoe by a policeman sitting in the third row of the VIP enclosure during the independance day celebarations in SriNagar.Chief Minister Abdullah was not the first Indian dignitary to have recieved this honour.He was preceded by Home Minister P.Chiddambaram ,senior party leader L.K.Advani and even Prime Minister Manmohan Singh .Shoe throwing became a much talked about subject when former US President George Bush ,who had not one but a pair of shoes flung at him by an Iraqi jurno in 2008. President Bush,however managed dextrously to evade the missiles aimed at him.Mr Bush figured it was a size 10 pair. Mr.Chiddambram was reportedly hit by a size 8 Reebok. Mr.Abdullah was the recipient of a slightly tatty looking Oxford dress shoe ,going by the look of it in NDTV’s coverage of the incident.
That most of the shoe-throwers MISSED their targets is a curiously interesting fact, that begs an answer. Last year after an Aussie heckler missed hitting former Australian Prime Minister Jhon Howard during a debate at Camebridge University,President of the Camebridge Union called it the weakest throw in the world.” I mean it shows why we lost the ashes,if you don’t mind me saying”, he told the Australian Broadcasting corporation.Apperantly this pathatic shoe-thrower had even demanded his shoe back after the incident.
By all accounts Kashmir Chief Minister Abdullah ,like most of the other dignitaries subjected to shoe-attacks, handled the episode with ralative ease and grace.He said ,” hurling a shoe is better than hurling a stone”.
However, the overwhelmingly redeeming feature in all these situations is that freedom of expression is still kicking and lively in some societies.
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