Feet of Clay

From the beginning, there was no way to keep our feet clean. I think the streets are just filled with dirt, but our apartment floor - while appearing clean - is just a dust trap. I instituted measures early to avoid dirty feet - and keep it out of our beds, basically wearing shoes or socks all the time. However, the last few weeks, my feet are just ground-in dirty. Every little crease is grey.

Somewhere along the line, this reminded me of the foot-washing in the Bible. And of the belief in India that the soles of the feet are the lowliest parts of the body, because they touch the earth. How common dirty feet must be in unpaved societies. How cushioned we are - literally - from this experience in modern America.

You see a lot more feet here, because many people wear sandals or flip-flops. I've even seen indigenous vendors barefoot in the market. There's a lot of calluses and thickened nails. Which I guess explains the existence of stores like this one:

Enlarge the photos and you'll see they offer help with buried nails, nail fungus, callouses, and correct cutting of the nails for normal and diabetic feet!