http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?sectionName=NLetter&id=df844eaa-b9b9-4810-b0cd-84897040064c&&Headline=%e2%80%98Mayawati+just+doesn%e2%80%99t+have+it%e2%80%99

'Mayawati just doesn't have it'

Mayank Austen Soofi, Hindustan Times
February 08, 2009
First Published: 12:12 IST(8/2/2009)
Last Updated: 12:14 IST(8/2/2009)

When she was in the 10th standard, she wanted to be an air hostess.
Now she is in the 12th, and wants to be an IAS officer. Neeta Vaid 18
Education: Presently in class 12

On Mayawati: Has reduced "us" to just being Dalit

"Air hostesses have to bend their back for other people," says Neeta
Vaid, "but district magistrates make other people bend towards them."
For someone whose father is a driver and mother a sweeper, this
back-bending business certifies honour, prestige and power. "If you
become successful and commanding, no one will ask about your
background," Vaid says.

While no one in her relations has risen to such heights, Vaid is
expected to make the breakthrough. Papa wants her to be an IAS officer
and mummy thinks she can do it. The girl's life now completely
revolves around 'Mission IAS'. She has grown so obsessed with "my
father's dream" that her favourite teacher is not her favourite merely
because she teaches well, but also because her husband happens to be
an IAS officer.

All sacrifices seem to be worth it. Reading may not always be fun but
if that cracks the code, so be it. "I don't read for enjoyment but for
gaining knowledge," she says. "I regularly read the Time magazine."
Since this weekly American magazine is priced at Rs 100, Vaid has to
go to a library, which is a 5-minute walk away from home, and she ends
up spending around three hours there everyday.

Indeed, her every hour is carefully scheduled. There seems to be no
carefree moment. When out, she is either at the school or in the
library. If at home, she's most probably watching NDTV 24/7. "So that
I can learn to speak English better." To her, it is important how
people talk and carry themselves. That's why Vaid, who will turn 18
this April, doesn't plan to vote for Mayawati, the self-proclaimed
leader of her people, in the coming Lok Sabha elections. "I'm put off
by her way of dressing and especially the way she talks," Vaid says.
"Mayawati just doesn't have it."

Instead she is most likely to cast the first vote of her life to Rahul
Gandhi. "When you look at him, you think he can do something for young
people like us," she observes, "while if Mayawati becomes the prime
minister, we would most likely have Delhi invaded by cows and
buffaloes from the countryside."

There is another reason why Mayawati must count out Vaid from her
scheme of things. "Mayawati just talks Dalit, Dalit, Dalit and that
reduces us to being just that," she says, "but hello, we are also
Hindus, we are also Indians."

Reply via email to