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Footwear is a little complicated because our categories here, traditional and Western, are not helpful. The traditional approach to footwear for children is going barefoot, but this still very common in modern India. Going barefoot is especially common in the poorer developing countries where parents often can not afford to buy footwear, even inexpensive footwear like flip-flops for their children. Climate is also a factor as these countries are primarily located in tropical areas where footwear are not needed for cold weather. Many children even go barefoot to school. It is especially common for younger children to go barefoot. One observer reports that most boys in Kerala went barefoot in the 1960s, especially from pooer families. And as far as we can tell this is still very common in India, depite the enormous economic progress being reported. We see many children going barefoot. This is especially true in rural areas, but we also see it in the cities.
Going barefoot is especially common in the poorer developing countries where parents pften can not afford to buy even inexpensive footwear for their children. Climate is also a factor as these countries are primarily located in tropical areas where footwear are not needed for cold weather. Many children even go barefoot to school. It is especially common for younger children to go barefoot. One observer reports that most boys in Kerala went barefoot in the 1960s, especially from pooer families. He is not sure how common this is now. A reader writes, "I visited India during the last month. I was in Ranchi (Jharkhand State), Calcutta (West Bengal) and Bangalore (Karnataka). In rural areas and in suburbs most children (sometimes quite all) go barefoot. Also in the town many children go barefoot. I don't think that is only a poverty issue. Poorest boys go always barefoot, but not only them. I think that bare feet are not seen as a poverty signal and many boys chose to go without footwear. In the photos we can see a boys' group in a rural area near Bangalore, but also a family visiting de Queen Victoria Memorial in Calcutta." Another reader writes, "People in India go barefoot in all religions prayer places (Hindu, Jain, Sikh, Muslim, Buddhist and Christian). It is also a respect signal. In Ranchi I saw high school students taking off the footwear entering in the teacher's office."
Flip flops becme very common in India during the post-World War II era. They are a form of light sandal that became popular in America at first as a form of of beach footwear. They consisted of a flat sole held loosely on the foot by a Y-shaped strap known as a toe thong that passes between the first and second toes and and then is secured to a pad. The basic design is of ncient origuns. This was not coonon in india, esoecially fot children as the leather pad made it expensive. The fliop-flop was invednted in merica after servicemen were exposed to Zori sandals as a result of the Wiorld war II Zori sandals. Americans in the 1950s came up with a ruberized plastic version in btight colors mking then aeguably the nost inexpensive footwear ever produced. This lent them being widedly worn in India and Africa. They were thus perfect for children in poor countries. We begin to see them in the 1960s. But they have drawbacks. While they are useful for everday actvities, they can't be worn for sports and active games because they don't say on the foot even running. We do not fully understand why the boy here is carryibg his flip-flops (figure 1). Unlike his mates, he dos not have an umbrella. We wiuld understnd it if he was carrying expebsive shies that wiul be dmged by the rain. but getting wet has no impact on the plastic rubberized material used to make flip-flops.
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