Footwear store in Geneva uses Buddha statue to hang shoes

Geneva, Switzerland - Sight-seeing in Switzerland does not leave a vacationer horrified, but Patna's Prabhat Choudhary, his wife and daughter were shocked to see a Lord Buddha statue garlanded with a pair of shoes at a footwear shop in Geneva.

"We were strolling on shopping street when my 15-year-old daughter insisted that we got into 'Anne Fontaine', a designer footwear shop. There in the shop, we saw a 4-ft statue of Lord Buddha on the shelf displaying shoes and slippers, garlanded with a pair of shoes," Prabhat, a realtor, recalled.

The family was shocked. Prabhat's daughter, was furious. Though her parents were a bit frightened, she persuaded them to let her shoot the sight with her videocam. The girl, a student of Patna's prestigious Notre Dame Academy, accomplished her mission without anyone - the shop staff or the crowd of customers - knowing about it.

Back home, Prabhat has sent a letter to the ministry of external affairs, requesting it to take up the matter with Swiss authorities.