The tale of two Mayas

Maya is four. Of course the other Maya is 54. The first actually is my daughter the second is the first daughter of Uttar Pradesh. Why is she the first (er for lack of another word) lady? Primarily because she says so.

My daughter Maya and this more well known Maya both shared their birthdays on the same weekend in January. Let’s compare the festivities that marked the respective grand occasions.
First, the invitations. My daughter invited 17 children from her class Sunflower Nursery School, lower pre-primary Prep IB; Mayawatiji invited 68 million 4,00,000 followers of hers from all across the cowbelt. Obviously, the latter’s pre-primary section is a little bit larger.
My little Maya’s invite was one SMS from her mother to other mothers. The original Maya’s invite was a gold-plated card three-feet by four-feet, with a miniature statuette of the lady with the handbag, smiling down at the fortunate invitee.
Little Maya’s birthday celebration was held on our building terrace, the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh needed a little more space. Her celebrations were held over four parks in Kanpur, seven in Noida and the length and breadth of Lucknow. Next we came to food. Chutney sandwich, cheese sandwich, cheese pakodas, pasta and juice were served at our small but informal function.
Big Maya’s menu had just a little more Chinese, Thai, Italian, Lebanese, Indonesian and Mughlai that dominated and stood out amongst the 33 different cuisines. Plate and cutlery were of gold. Tablemats shaped in her glorious form. Let’s now turn our attention to the dessert.
For the sweet dish, Mayawati went one better. Gulab jamun, gajar ka halwa and firni, as well as cakes of kulfi (malai and pista flavours) were served to the grateful guests. The sweets had one thing in common, all were shaped to resemble “The Great Didi’s” form. In other words, they were sweetened versions of the statues that could be consumed by one and all.
Little Maya’s birthday cake was a brown and yellow one-kg eggless cake with a princess face prominently displayed on it. The elder Maya had a cake which began in Lucknow and ended somewhere near the Hoogly river, where ungrateful villagers who weren’t familiar with the great leader used the cake as a river crossing.
The shape drawn on this large cake was difficult to fathom, but rumours abounded that (and in all probability it was just a lucky guess) that the figure depicted was that of the Great One herself, believe it or not.
As you all know, birthday parties cannot be complete without games. Games that participants can enjoy thoroughly. At little Maya’s bash the games included pin the donkeys, dodge ball and the time-honoured favourite, musical chairs.
At the senior Maya’s bash the predominant game was statue. An old and world-famous game. Here, in Uttar Pradesh, it involves garlanding statues, prostrating before statues and praying to statues of the “Great Leader” herself. A highlight of her fame is when a Samajwadi Party or Congress Party worker is made to pray to the statue.
At the Broacha residence, back presents include sweets and a Hannah Montana doll. At the elder Maya’s bash gifts are many and they include Mayawati dolls, no jail time, being allowed back home and hot-hot jalebis (the jalebis obviously are in certain shape and form which by now I’m sure you know).
There you have it, the difference between the haves and the have nots. One Maya lives in grand splendour, a throw back to the days of the Caliphate, while the other has to make do in a far more meager manner. Therein lies the tale of two Indias.
Two Indias in which we are divided into the haves and have nots. Or more likely those who have statues and those who have not.