PESHAWAR: First, he discreetly acquired their footsizes.
Next, Chacha Noorudin instructed one of his workers to jot down the numbers against the names – 13 for captain Darren Sammy, 11 for batsman Kamran Akmal, 12 for head coach Muhammad Akram, 13 for coach Arshad Khan, and 12 for left-arm fast bowler Wahab Riaz.
Chacha (uncle) Nooruddin met with English cricketer, Liam Andrew Dawson, in Karachi on February 18, 2020. (Picture provided by Chacha Noorudin)
Within three weeks, one of Pakistan’s most popular cobblers had got his iconic footwear, the Peshawari Chappal or sandal, ready to gift to his favorite sport stars – the team members of Pakistan Super League’s (PSL) Peshawar Zalmi.
“I designed more than 40 pairs of the Peshawari Chappal for all the players and the team management in three colors – brown, mustard, and tiger print. Since we could get their exact foot sizes, we managed to complete the task in time,” Noorudin, 60, told Arab News.
A resident of Peshawar, he has been designing the sandals since 1976, but propelled to stardom when he first made a pair for Prime Minister Imran Khan in November 2014.
He named it “Kaptaan” – a term of endearment used for PM Khan during his world-class stint in cricket – and gifted it to the Pakistani premier.
Chacha (uncle) Nooruddin also met with former Pakistani captain Shoaib Malik, in Karachi on February 18, 2020. (Picture provided by Chacha Noorudin)
Today, customers line up outside his store, which is located near the famous Namak Mandi food street in Peshawar, to get a customised version of the double sole sandal which has become a favorite for PM Khan and other heads of states, too.
These include President Arif Alvi and his wife, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Shah Farman, federal and provincial ministers, and army generals.
During Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman’s trip to Pakistan in February 2019, he gifted a pair of sandals to the Saudi royal, too, transcending boundaries through a fashion item.
For the Zalmi team, he said, he had been planning the surprise for weeks.
Captain of Peshawar Zalmi team, Darren Sammy, met with Chacha or Uncle Nooruddin in Karachi on February 18, 2020. (Picture provided by Chacha Noorudin)
“Actually they are our guests and I am a supporter of Peshawar Zalmi so I went all the way to Karachi to personally gift it to them,” he said.
Thanking Nooruddin on behalf of the team, captain Sammy said he would now “buy a Peshawar dress to compliment the chappals,” but not before ending the video call with a “Chacha Zindabad.”
