What is the significance of the …

The author remembers the story of a man from Udipi who once told her his story as a young boy. His story gives an insight into the pattern of poverty in the backdrop of the changing time. He was a priest’s son, and as a child, he used to pray for a pair of shoes. Thirty-year later, when the author visits the same temple, she comes across the son of the new priest who wore shoes. Then she remembers how another boy who had a pair of shoes prayed for never losing them. This situation depicts how our priorities shift with need and time. Earlier, shoes used to be a rare possession for the boys who now have them, and those who had them wanted them to be secured. Some children are lucky. In its contrast, there was still a section of society who struggled daily and still walked barefoot, they were the ragpickers.