For the tent companies,the Maidan had always been a prime business opportunity. This year,however,the tentwallahs had a different experience. Omi Bansal,who provided tents for both Hazare and Ramdev events,says though the crowd was not all that huge during Hazares fast,the number of people who visited the Maidan in the period was enormous. He says between the two leaders,he allowed subsidised rates for Hazare. Young people in my family were excited,they told me we should do it, Bansal says. A veteran who has spent all of his 60-plus years in Delhi,40 of them in the business,Bansal knows about almost all the events held at the Maidan over the years. The biggest gathering I ever saw at the Maidan was when JP came there during Emergency. But that was another time. There were no arrangements like now no tents or fixed time for speech. Only sanitation and sound arrangements were made, he says. Bansal says police had enough reason to evict Ramdev from the grounds. He had permission for 5,000 to 10,000 people,but that night there were around 25,000 people, he says. He also remembers the time when Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had come to the Maidan for an address on the 1962 Sino-Indian war. He points out: Nehru was over there. Lata Mangeshkar was there,and she sang Ai mere watan ke logon for the first time, he says. Like other old timers in the area,Bansal laments the Maidans fall from being a green,open space to the present state of squalor. There used to be grass here and a little garden for women in the corner,by the masjid. The misuse began after 1980, he says.
