The Great BOOT-POLISH competition of 1958*

Old and withered black shoes in the left hand and Shoe Polish in the right hand, thousands of people waited for the event to begin. No, it was not an exchange offer for shoes but it was the Great BOOT-POLISH competition of 1958. Since there were more rivals coming up in the market, one of the leading shoe polish brands had a new concept of marketing. "Polish your shoe and win huge money" - were the slogans being announced all over the city of New York. A grand advertising campaign and innovative marketing techniques played their tricks on the people. 14th of September saw a huge crowd assemble at the Times Square and the purpose - polishing their shoes!

People do anything for money - believe me, absolutely anything. An insignificant action which only school children and white collar workers would do everyday was made so attractive and exciting that more than a quarter of new york people were there ignoring every other important thing in their life. And no points for guessing that the mid week of September, 1958 shattered all the records for polish equipment sales. Something which would cost around less than 100 could give a chance to win 1,00,000! So, why not try?

They were all there - from rich businessmen to the hot dog vendor next street. From blacks to whites, children to adults, engineers to doctors and wonder who else. And there were some with black marks on their cheeks signifying the amount of practice they had done at home, one of them being Andrew. 1 lakh wasn't a small amount that time, though it may sound peanuts for us today.

Doing his honors in microbiology, Andrew was one of those smart, intelligent and ambitious guys, who had a very clear goal in life and dedicated his blood to it. He knew he would make it BIG one day and he was desperately desperate for that day. If the desperate desperation were to take a human form desperately, it would be Andrew. Immensely desperate for success and recognition, he would go through every little opportunity that comes by his way to make it BIG. Little did he knew that everything in this Universe had a time frame. If he had to be successful and popular, it would take time, but as i said, he was desperately desperate for it NOW!

Winning the great BOOT-POLISH competition was not normal, his photograph would be on the front page of every newspaper, his video holding the winning trophy would be on every other channel, he would win 1,00,000 with which he could start his own enterprise. Dreaming all these, he set out to participate in this grand marketing trick. One whole month of research and hard work followed. What would happen if a shoe made of leather and a paste made of wax meet? How can this chemical reaction be enhanced to make the shoe shine better?

"Hey, I am not that bad at chemistry....equally good at it. Probably I can combine my biology also to pursue my future in Bio-Chemistry", he thought. Now this was the most disturbing thing about Andrew, his timidity. For every new opportunity he would discover, he would get more confused about his career. And this confusion would never end. More the opportunities, more the confusion. He would think he is fit enough for every other talent out there and he would end up being a jack of all trades, master of none. He knew he had to master only one talent if he wished to make it BIG, but this awareness was of no help. He continued to be confused in life and washed his hands with whichever river came by his way.

"I have been sent to this world to fulfill a unique job, I have a fixed destiny, all i need to do is find the secret path to it and unlock the mystery", he pondered. His insecurity that he may die without letting the world know him made him timid. His fear that he may die a normal death without becoming popular, without achieving his goal, without accomplishing his dreams, worsened the situation and he ended up in polishing his shoes 10 times every day for 30 long days just in case he wins this great competition and all his dreams would come true. There is nothing wrong in expecting good results, especially if you have worked so hard and hey, who doesn't want recognition in life? Even you do....but would it be OK to polish my shoe on the street in front of thousands for that recognition? Well, there is no right or wrong answer for this but it all depends on the perspective. Perspective of the individual about good and bad, about right and wrong, about BIG and small, about success and failure, about being popular or unpopular.

Old and withered black shoes in the left hand and Shoe Polish in the right hand, even he set out to be a part of this great historic competition and to make a difference, to be on the front page of the newspaper next day, to be on the television screens of lakhs of people on the same day. He was supremely confident about his victory, after all he has worked extremely hard and he has wished for this from the bottom of his heart truly and Paulo Coelho says "When you wish for something truly, the whole universe conspires for you to achieve it". He could sense that universe at Times Square on that day. They all were there, thousands of participants, only to lose so that Andrew could have won. They were all there, from rich businessmen to the hot dog vendor next street, from blacks to whites, children to adults, engineers to doctors, to conspire for Andrew's victory.

The press could witness a mad crowd that day, busy making a leather piece shine to excellence. Within a few minutes, it would end and the jury would walk through thousands of shoes to pick only one, the one which would shine bright and sparkle! Andrew could recollect each and every moment he had gone through the whole of previous month for this one day, for this one moment, for his one shoe to be picked up. He could recollect how the "Polish your shoe and win huge money" marketing slogan caught his attention. As his memories rewinded, the judge forwarded to look at more shoes, to pick up a shoe which was extremely striking, sparkling and shining. He went ahead in search of that X factor. He examined each shoe thoroughly, hand picked a few and tested their genuineness. The crowd would surround the judge(and even fall on him), they would move along with him shoe by shoe. Photographers were busy clicking pics of thousands of them. They appeared as though Edison's thousand attempts of inventing the bulb were on display. Some were dim, some too glary while some never lit. As the judge approached Andrew's shoes, his eyes twinkled, he could see them - dark like the night and bright like the stars.......

......................to be continued

* - This is purely a work of fiction, any resemblance to similar stories, old or new is purely coincidental. No part of this maybe copied or reproduced without the permission from the blogger.