ahmedabad mahatma gandhis roundrimmed spectacles and his zenith pocket watch may have grabbed all the attention out of his personal possessions which will be auctioned in new york on march 45 but bapus sandals which are also to go under the hammer may be the only collectors item with auctioneers antiquorum inc which may have been made by the great man himselfthere are various accounts of how gandhiji used to make his own footwear and for those close to him in 1931 he was imprisoned in yervada jail with vallabhbhai patel patel needed a pair of sandals but there were no good shoemakers in jail gandhiji said if you can get some good leather i can make a pair for you i was a very good cobbler i made a number of sandals on tolstoy farm gandhiji learnt the craft of cobblers not as a hobby but to make a strong social and political statement at a time when untouchability was widely prevalent he wanted to give respectability to the professionthe leather sandals on auction were given by him to a british officer out of gratitude for having taken some pictures of the mahatma when he visited london in 1931 for the roundtable the sandals were passed down generations of the unnamed officers familya letter written in 1911 to his nephew states i am mostly busy making sandals these days i like to work and it is essential too i have already made about 15 pairs when you need one please send me the measurements gandhiji learnt this craft in south africa from his german friend kallenbach at tolstoy farm shoes made by them were sold outside the farm gandhi set a fashion of wearing sandalshoes with trousers noted jafar mahmud in his book mahatma gandhi