Stray near and policemen will warn you off; ask questions and workers will mutter they know nothing; gates are closed on journalists; and even the elite residents of Noida's Sector 15A, who found their favourite park usurped for purposes of building the Ambedkar park and memorial, could do nothing but fume at the way UP's state authorities, under Mayawati's instructions, railroaded any attempts to submit to reason or legalese. The modern Queen Maya's writ runs strong despite a poorer showing than expected at the national hustings.
It may have dulled some of the veneer from the controversial BSP headquarters that has come up in snobbish Chanakyapuri where the chief minister purchased Urdu publisher Yunus Dehlvi's house, then demolished it to build a stately but surprisingly sedate set of twin buildings bridged by a life-size sandstone elephant. The elephant is a recurring motif in her architecture, a blend of Indian and European with elements that are Roman, Corinthian, Hindu, Muslim and Buddhist that manage to look no more offensive than many of the city's more prominent houses, but there's no escaping the nod to the commanding heights of architecture.
So must rulers in the past have considered their lofty ambitions; so must Mayawati be translating hers. At the 'smaraks' and 'sthals' in Lucknow, rows of stone elephants act as heralds; at her brother's home in Noida, golden elephants march across the forbidding gates, and in the park in Noida, avenues of 300-ft high pillars are crowned by four-headed elephants. Buddhist motifs are extensively used in walls and parapets and facades of Maya's structures in Uttar Pradesh, and in Delhi, there is a nod towards elements from Lutyens's 'jaalis' and emblems.
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