Saturday, November 5, 2011

"Aapun Ka Party Kabh Hai?"


Irony!Irony! The famous Bombay Times Anniversary Bash coincides with the CHILDLINE party for street kids. Both will be fun. B.T. has a theme - it's a Mad Hatters' Party. But our raasta bachchas will rock theirs without special props or costumes!
As for me, I shall be at Parle Katta talking to what I have been told is a very informed and lively Maharshtrian audience. Post that function, I shall join the Lit Set at the ongoing Mumbai Lit Fest. Must say Thomas Freidman left me thanda. And I am sick to death with his 'world is flat' bilge. Go get some rest, Tom.
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This appeared in the Asian Age today...

Statues Of Liberty!
I swear I am not joking! After a vroom vroom visit to Maya-land to watch India’s virgin F1 at the world- class Buddh International Circuit (BIC), I am ready to personally carve a brand new, larger-than-lifesize statue of Mayawati and erect it at a prominent junction in Mumbai. That lady is something else! I will also request Nargis Fakhri ( the latest Bollywood hottie) to perform ‘Behenji Badnaam Hui…” at the next F1. Come on, don’t you agree Nargis is far better looking than that weirdo Gaga with her tri-colour fake hair? In any case we vastly prefer our desi girls ( even if they are only 50-50 desi).Mayawati is my Babe-of-the-moment. After pulling off that coup (F1), Mayawati’s stock has zoomed at a speed faster than Sebastian Vettel’s mean machine could rev up. Suddenly, all those snotty Formula One fans from Delhi,Mumbai and other cities, have had to suck in their breaths and say , “Wow!How did she do it? HOW?” Mind you, no matter who else was involved ( yes, Shri Jaiprakash Gaur, we know it’s you!) it was Mayawati who walked away with all the credit. And hello! nobody wants to get into the nitty gritties. A few legal eagles ,, in on the myriad contracts, whispered not everything was all that kosher and that there were several wheels within wheels and deals within deals, with a whole lot of black in the lentils.Does anybody really care? Naah!With stories galore about Mayawati’s family members allegedly getting pretty juicy prime cuts on virtually every brick and bag of cement used, nobody blinked or minded. The reaction has been cool and blasé. “ Let them also make money, yaar. But at least India delivered big time for a change. Look at what happened with CAG. Paisa khaaya aur kuch bhi nahi kiya.It was such a disgrace.” Point. We are very sweet and considerate that way. We expect our leaders to keep their family members khush. It’s a given. If Asif Zardari was known in Pakistan as Mr. Ten Percent, Mayawati’s gang falls into the Messrs.Thirty Per Cent. Jaaney do. At least Mayawati fixed the Doubting Thomases who had predicted she’d fall flat on her face with the F1 . Advantage Behenji . As anybody who made a pit stop at the Budhh Circuit will readily confirm, this was an absolute coup. And the response ( even from skeptics) has been an unconditional thumbs up. Let’s not get ethics and values into the picture. Nor the staggering cost of getting the track and infrastructure off the ground.Point is, Buddh took fans by surprise. But more importantly, it took the motor racing world’s breath away.
The most interesting aspect of attending the historic Indian F1 was the long drive to the distant venue. A drive that took people past the famous 3,000 crore park with ‘those’ statues that have generated so much criticism and scorn. I passed the park four times. At one point our car was stuck right opposite the notorious elephants , lining the gigantic Dalit Prerna Hall. The first reaction to the elephants and the imposing Stupa-style structure was very positive. The design was pleasing, aesthetic and wonderfully conceived. What had I expected? I’ll be candid and tell you – I had imagined the much-discussed park to be a totally hideous complex crammed with ugly statues. Instead, what I saw was a magnificent ground dotted with handsome monuments made out of local stone, and built in a holistic style devoid of any ostentation. Mayawati certainly got this right, as well! As to why she is ‘wasting’ so much money on those statues? Because Mayawati is smart!She has vision.What she has cleverly invested in ( the park) reflects the aspirations and hopes of Dalits. It’s a beautiful space Dalits can finally call their own. A space they have never had. Never! A space that provides a strong sense of identity…that they can feel proud of. Intuitively and instinctively, Mayawati must have known that if she wants to leave behind a worthwhile, memorable legacy for future generations to enjoy, it had to be on this scale and on these terms. Good for her.
When one looks around India ( a country obsessed by symbols of power in the form of statues), whose figures do we see? Here’s a rough check list: topping it is, of course, Mahatma Gandhi. Followed by Nehru,Netaji, Shivaji and the odd Maharaja. You my find a Jhansi Ki Rani, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Tilak, Tagore and Patel. Ambedkar stands tall in more and more cities these days. Then on to countless Indira and Rajiv Gandhi representations.Nearly every important modern landmark is named after one or the other member of the Gandhi family - the mother,son or grandfather. Airports, and other public buildings are all taken by the trio. What about Mumbai’s Rajiv Gandhi Sea Link, which should have legitimately been named after Ambedkar, who was born in Worli, where it is located…. but wasn’t? What about the acres and acres of land in Delhi devoted to various ‘sthals’? How come nobody finds all of this ‘wasteful, extravagant, meaningless’? Mayawati is no fool. It is all about those numbers. She is looking ahead at the Big Picture, and what she’s seeing is obviously good. She is not waiting for anyone to erect her statues… she’s doing the job herself. She is shrewd enough to realize the power of the statue-politics. The more you erect, the stronger the positioning . Why wait till you are dead and gone for followers to get those statues up? Like Saddam Hussein or Col. Gaddafi, Mayawati is assiduously building her own personality cult. Let’s just hope her statues don’t suffer the same fate as theirs did . Till then, let Mayawati bask in and enjoy her international fame posing with the handsome young F1 champions.She’s finally in the fast track… who can stop her now??

11 comments:

vj said...

A very nice perspective ... Made me change mine about Maya's park

WhencutGoddamn said...

WAAAAAIIITTT! Youd don't like Lady Gaga? She's so eccentric and cool. And i actually found her tri color hairdo rather amusing....anyway write an article on what you think of her...? pleaseeee
Iloveedd the one on Paris Hilton, made so much sense to me! You write extremely well! Your opinions are so articulate and precise :)
I'm such a faaan :P

Anonymous said...

Wow, you are appreciation mayawati even in sarcastic way will boost her ratings as many journos would only take some context & leave the rest giving another impression.

Anyways F1 in India is good for all of us, even those critics who are always bad mouthed about every thing.

In Bangalore metallica performed without any Glitch & i was there to watch it. Wow...

Also there was an launching of new social platform for Bangaloreans http://bangalore.me which was cool

Anonymous said...

I wait for the day when behenji rules the whole nation and Rahul baba fetches her sandals from bum-bay :-)

absolute delight shobhaa...

.i say cut the crap and lets erect some more....

Goalady99 said...

Mayawati has lived up to her name-lady of illusions. The grandure of the park shows it all. I believe Harvard and Oxford universities are so impressed that Tom Friedman has suggested them to start a graduate course on "JUGAD" tought exclusively by Indians like Mayawati, Lallu etc.
I wish you were not so condescending about Gaga- Nargis is born beautiful, she did not work on it, but Gaga despite her looks has made it big by sheer hard work and innovativeness-she is true performer. Give credit where it is due.

चंद्रमौलेश्वर प्रसाद said...

PLEASE.... PLEASE .... dont forget that the rich are getting the kick of vroooooooooooooom from the paisa of Janta not, repeat NOT mayavati who can get sandals from Bombay [your Mumbai] by plane :(

Thefingeek said...

thats interesting
maya's statue lifting or shoes bieng returned in a plane????

kakaka said...

who nargis?

did u watch the new don2 trailer? Shahukh is trying ape heath ledger in THE DARK Knight as the joker.
he is trying too hard yet again.

i dont know about liking desi better, we should watch videshi more to see the original versions of things made in bollywood.

and yes i watched shahrukh khan on koffee with karan, half of the lines in the interview have been stolen from the movie UP IN THE AIR

shahrukh needs to reinvent himself quick...he is becoming a substandard version of hollywood personalities.

SANDEEP PANWAR said...

great

Ambika said...

Nicely designed invite.
Kids are at least looking like kids and not like YA - Young Adults. How I hate that term!

manisha agarwal katiyar said...

tru true true .. i also visited DALIT PRERNA STHAL and Buddha international circuit .....Great work done by Madam Mayawati.....Thnx for mentioning her in a positive way and thnax to Mayawati ji for making India pride .