The Invention of shoe

The invention of one of the world’s most popular apparel, the shoe, is widely unknown. The polymath Rabindranath Tagore imagines the invention of the shoe by humorously telling the story of a petulant king. King Habu wakes up one day to realise that his royal feet are always too soiled by the dust of the earth. So he beckons his trusted Minister Gabu over and demands him to find a solution to this problem. This initiates a long search for a solution that turns the peace of the kingdom upside and causes an uproar. How will the king’s demand be satisfied?

About the Translator: Nirmal Kanti Bhattacharjee has spent half his career as a teacher in universities across India, and the other half as a cultural administrator. A professional wordsmith, he enjoys tossing stories from one language to another and concocting delicious word salads that bring to readers flavours from different lands. NKB likes to whip up a storm on the chessboard, and when he cannot find opponents to play with, he picks up a backpack and goes travelling.