Feet first

It being a day of cloud and drizzle I thought I'd have another bash at this week's Body Parts challenge, by blipping an antique Indian painting of the feet of Rama. I took it out to the porch to photograph it in natural light and rested it on my walking boots which were still there after yesterday's soggy excursion. It then occurred to me that the juxtapositioning of the two worked well as an image of bipedalism.

My boots are nothing special, just a cheap pair from Milletts, but the feet of Rama are very special indeed. They show the soles, painted in lilac, with an array of Hindu symbols in gold: nine on the right foot and eleven on the left foot. I have the complete run-down on these, obtained long ago by my father from an old schoolfriend in India who consulted a pandit, or scholar, to supply the information, written in his hand. They include the lotus (signifying peace), the club (strength), the swastika (good luck), the sun (intelligence), the moon (beauty), the fish (good fortune), the jar (water) and the bow (victory over evil). Indian foot reading is a very old tradition, akin to palmistry, with the lines on the feet representing these symbols. How many of us would pay this amount of attention to the soles of our own feet - or even recognize them?

Last August a newpaper reported
"A human foot has been found on a beach... The body part was found on Cleethorpes beach in north-east Lincolnshire on Wednesday night by a member of the public. Police officers removed the foot from the scene and it was taken to a local mortuary for specialist examination. A Humberside police spokeswoman confirmed the find, adding: "Inquiries are now under way to identify any possible missing person to whom the body part may belong."