My sandals landed me in trouble twice in December. And that’s not uncommon.
Mr Krishnan and I were meeting. He suggested:
Good morning. Sunday 07/12/25 breakfast at 09:00 am at the Bangalore Club Residency Road (not far from Koramangala)?
… but knowing me, he also added:
These clubs are peculiar and may insist on no round necked t-shirt or no open sandals. If you have ideological issues with that, no problem and I will suggest another venue.
I shared this in reply…
… and we met at Ballal Residency instead.
I’ve been buying the same sandals for 8 years now. About twice a year.
- 4 Aug 2018
- 27 Feb 2019
- 14 Dec 2019
- 6 Feb 2020
- 4 Dec 2020
- 16 Sep 2021
- (Hmm…. what happened in 2022?)
- 4 Feb 2023
- 23 May 2023
- 6 Apr 2024
- (Bought at a store, not Amazon)
- 29 Jan 2025
- 5 Nov 2025
They work remarkably well. Comfortable (no break-in period, good to walk in, doesn’t slip off.) Durable (though the bottom center wearng out after 6 months.) Cheap (and staying cheap, around ₹500 over the years.) Maintainable (just wash them.) All-weather (though socks helps when snowing.) Stylish (well, at least to me.)
The only hitch is that other people don’t always like them. Usually Naveen gives me his spares for important meetings or TV. We even kept a spare for me at our Hyderabad office though I never used them.
Where I get into trouble is usually in places with… “too much atmosphere”.
On 31 Dec, my wife booked us for a New Year party at Ce La Vi - the tallest spot in Singapore, and with a great view of the fireworks.
And a dress code we were not aware of. “Gentlemen must be in a shirt, covered shoes.”.
After 5 minutes of trying to persuade the gentle yet firm manager, I wished my family a happy new year and walked back home enjoying the fireworks along with thousands of others on the streets.
In open air. And open sandals.