He became a shoemaker with no other choice, but his only passion now is making a world record with his ‘mini shoes’. Having made almost 40 pairs till now, K R Shivshankar alias Tillu is confident of taking this work even to the Guinness Book of World Records, but is yet to find some financial support to feed his passion.
“At a time when people like us are yet to get the actual benefits granted to us by the government, I am not very sure of when I could get there. But, I am determined not to give it up,” he says.
A shoemaker from Shivajinagar, he was forced to take up the job with no other option. His family went through acute financial crisis when his father died. And Shivshankar had to get into work instead of school. After working as a coolie and an assistant in shops and with cobblers, he finally got into the art of shoemaking. He set up a footwear shop 10 years ago. This small 6 by 3 feet shop at Davis Road cross cost him close to Rs 10,000 then.
An avid radio listener, he never missed the series on achievers. Inspired by many of these stories, he started making these small shoes, six months back. “Initially it was just an experiment. But I took it seriously when I had a few foreigners who came to me asking to give them for Rs 150, seeing the shoes on display. I then realized the worth of my passion,” he explained.
He had made many, also lost a few to admirers but managed to preserve at least 40 pairs — Pencil heels, floaters, shoes and even gumboots, all of them within the size range of one inch (3 cm) to two and a half inch (5 cm) for men, women and even saints — many of them to fit just your finger tips. But, it takes him more than a hour making each pair. He aims to make at least a 100 such pairs, covering all possible models. With such a passion, he has also been able to utilise much of the waste generated out of making the bigger footwear.
With a daily earning of Rs 150-200, or even less at times, and three children in their higher studies along with the high cost of living in Bangalore, the only hitch that worries him is ‘money’. “Even to attempt a Limca book of records, I need to travel to Delhi and even stay there temporarily till I succeed,” he says. Even before his record attempts, he sure has made an impressive record having given his three children (one son and two daughters) good education so far. Having suffered poverty and being illiterate, he wants his kids to be far away from the plight of a poor shoemaker.
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