The Great Indian Cobbler

(The following post is a fictitious story).

Photo by Arjun Suri Photography

Once upon a time, in a mildly populated city, lied a narrow lane where 24 Cobblers ran their shops. It was a place that had to be seen to be believed, the moment a passerby went they’d start shouting requesting him to avail their services that included shoe polish, repair, basic cleansing, and sole replacement. All of them were quite proficient in their job skills and they mingled quite well with each other without any professional envy.

One fine day a new Cobbler came and decided to set his shop there. He was cheerfully included in their clan. But as it turned out his skills weren't as proficient as his contemporaries, and the customers he’d make were either those that were new to that ally or were attracted towards his face that had elements of physical attractiveness plus a lyrical tone in his voice.

On an average when his fellow Cobblers would get to work with 30 Customers in a day, he had to settle for 10. Thus it wasn't easy for him to make ends meet, and despite his best efforts he was not able to pump up his skills to precision.

The remaining Cobblers were friendly with him, and looked up to him as their junior who had a long way to go before posing a serious threat. Persistent competition meant he’d have to do something special in order to survive, and would have to bring in the “X factor”.

He hadn't saved a lot of money, so one day he went to his most trusted friend, borrowed whatever amount he could procure, and went to the Stationery Shop near his home. He purchased a cardboard and some pastel colors. While at the shop he noticed a book with attractive cover bearing the name “The Shining Ruby”.  He borrowed a small piece of blank paper from the shopkeeper and scribbled the word “Shining” on it, along with few more words.

Next up he went to a Garage Sale and brought himself a cushion, a pair of old slippers with attractive design, and an old shoe brush tracing its origins to the British Era. On the way home he passed by a book shop, from where he purchased few unsold magazines at throwaway prices and also a fancy looking notebook with Glitter pen.

The Cobbler still had some money left; using most of it he brought few Chocolates and reached home. He gave them to his adolescent neighbor on pretext that she’d write “Shining Shoe Shop” on the cardboard using pastel colors in a way that it’d get noticed by anyone looking at it. She took the Chocolates and did what was told to her.

Next morning the Cobbler put up the board at his place. His fellow contemporaries had a glance at it and wondered what he was up to. Their expressions of amusement were prominently visible. But what amused them further was when the Cobbler started shouting in his characteristic tone announcing the rates which were thrice of what others were offering. They took jibes at his business model, for he was not proficient enough to set such a high price for his services.

Three hours went past and not even a single human stopped at his shop.

Then one finely dressed gentleman came, probably thinking of trying out the USP of that Cobbler. He offered him cushion to sit on, and as he removed his shoes for repair he bought forward the pair of fancy slippers which though worn-out were definitely easy on the eye. The Cobbler showed his unique Shoe Brush to the customer citing it had its roots in the era of Indian freedom movement. He offered whatever magazines he had for his customer to read while he was doing his job.

As the Cobbler was done with his job and client ready to leave, he showed him the Notebook and requested an entry describing his experience at the shop. By now the customer was so impressed at the experience that he chose to overlook the quality of work done by the Cobbler. He thought that since he had charged more money than the remaining ones there must be something special about him. So he wrote a lovely entry in the Notebook citing the experience as “the one for the classes”.

As he left, the Cobbler’s colleagues gave a glaring stare thinking what a fool that man was to have spent his money on something that he could have got for one-third the price, that too of better quality. And incidentally the Cobbler did not make any other deal that day, thus he incurred a loss. But his calm composure indicated he had confidence over what to do next.

The next morning, as he was setting up his shop, some of his contemporaries tried to discourage him and offered their knowledgeable services for improving his skills in the craft. But he simply responded with a mild smile. And as people passed by, he started his newly developed chant, but with an added suffix referring the Notebook entry. It did seem to have helped, for within the first hour of business he got his first customer. He treated him the same way as he did yesterday – cushion, slippers, old shoe brush and magazines. Naturally he made him write in the Notebook as well, which of course turned out to be a positive entry. The Cobbler made two more customers that day on similar basis, and thus his daily income was nearly equal to what was till a week back.

Fifteen days went past, and by now the Cobbler had started breaking even. The average daily count of customers was less than what used to be once, but his revenue had increased. What had decreased was the amount of physical labor he used to do in a day.

He decided to procure some more visually attractive stuff. So he went to the market and purchased the kind of material that would better the “experience” his customers had at the shop. He also purchased an additional Notebook with appealing hardbound cover.

By the time a month was over, profits had started pouring in. That too with average number of daily customers less than what was a month ago. This implied that the income was more and his physical efforts were less.

He developed a set of loyal customers, who were unique in the sense that they’d look down upon those who were availing services from the remaining Cobblers. The loyal ones cited themselves to be humans of class tastes and proudly proclaimed being ardent fans of The Great Indian Cobbler; the one who was a cut above the rest and therefore his high fees was justified. It was a matter of time that word spread about his prowess on various mediums such as Print Media and Social Networks, with no one daring to criticize him since it would have implied they were humans of sub-par standards. Interestingly no one questioned the opinions of other Cobblers who were experts in the field and certainly knew much more than the self-professed critics.

And a day finally came when the Cobbler crossed his ex-monthly average of 10 daily customers. As the numbers kept increasing, the Cobbler thought of a way to manage his ever expanding business. He started search for a largely out-of-work Cobbler and was fruitful in that. He taught him tricks of the trade and helped set up another “Shining Shoe Shop” labeling it as his franchise and put a condition that he’d get a fixed set of revenues from each order. This worked in favor of both the Cobbler and his resource.

To ensure that he’d earn as much amount of money from the franchise as he was earning from his own establishment the Cobbler increased rates of his shops, citing his was a premium service and they had to be charged. While some of his customers didn't take the additional change in a favorable manner, most did and thus not only revenues of his shop increased but so did that of his franchise, thus his resource started earning more money than before.

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Today The Great Indian Cobbler has a business empire. He has hired people to take care of the same and doing even less work than before; enjoying the premium churning out from the franchises he’s provided. He has got few competitors now, who also operate by offering premium services, but it’s not his responsibility to tackle them, rather it belongs to the executives working under him, who have put their personal life at stake working day & night so that their bank balance would keep on increasing. It helps that the younger generation considers it acceptable to spend so much on the services being offered by The Great Indian Cobbler, as they aren't aware of how things were back in the days of their ancestors.

His once-rival cobblers have either passed away in poverty or faded into oblivion taking up other jobs. Even today they do not hold a high opinion on the quality of services being offered by the main protagonist of this story. And then they say that we Indians have not been able to preserve the art that was once unique to the nation.

At the same time no one really hates The Great Indian Cobbler. For they desire that whatever happened to him, happens to them as well.

(The above piece is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to someone living or dead would be an interesting co-incidence.)

Photo by Arjun Suri Photography