India, June 28 -- Some things take their own time and so it is with a long-overdue visit to a Hoshiarpur poet much honoured for his struggle and his literature. It is a hot June mid-morning that one finds oneself near the roundabout of the town's bus stand and one turns left into a lane of Subhashnagar to meet an author and poet whose poem on the sacrifice by Eklavya to Dronacharya titled 'Aaj ka Eklavya' (today's Eklavya) is part of the MA (Hindi) syllabus of Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU). Not just that, his autobiography penned in Hindi and simply titled 'Mochi' (cobbler) is considered one of the classics of contemporary Dalit literature emerging from Punjab.

Enter the shoe shop and it is different from any other shoe ...