Mamma, Si, We Did It Again!

Mamma mia,

Mamma, Mamma, Mamma. Where do We cominciare, begin? We won the Rae Bareli with record votes. Never has Rae Bareli, nay India We can say, seen such a grande victory. The voce of the gente, the voice of the people, has been heard. And it says: Sonia Gandhi.

This last mese, month, saw tua figilia, your daughter, in full battaglia, battle, mode. Remember, Mamma, what vecchio Churchill once said? Papa used to sometimes quote him, remember? ‘‘We shall fight them on the beaches, and on the landing grounds, we shall fight them on the fields and in the streets, we shall never surrender.’’ Veramente, truly, tua figilia, your daughter, did just that. She fought them in Parliament, and on the streets. Tua figilia will never surrender! Our sacrificio, our sacrifice, Mamma, makes us speciale, molto speciale, very special, for the gente. In Rae Bareli they are not calling me ‘‘Bahu’’ any longer. They are calling me ‘‘Epitome of Renunciation’’.

Missed you, Mamma. You should have heard the big naso, the great din, they made outside 10 Janpath when news of Our victory came in. A big celibrazione followed, with fuochi d’artificio, fireworks, and everything. It is enough to give Us a febbre, a fever! We had to come out and wave to the great unwashed. Then some in the party even said We should become primo ministro, but of course We dismissed all such talk as ‘‘not proper’’. They so love, amare, Us, the great unwashed. And Our party is generally doing well as these elections have shown. Remember that lady of south India who was so rude about Us? Remember how she would call me ‘Antonio Maino’ and tell me to go back to Italy? Si, Mamma, it was she who finally had to go back to her home in Poes Garden, not Us!

Certanmente, certainly, Our enemies never imagined such an outcome. What buffos! We sent them to the tintoria, the dry-cleaners! We got over quattro cento mila, four lakh votes, just imagine! Quattro cento mila! That is the magia, magic, of belonging to the most distinguished famiglia in the paese, country! Those buffos believe they can call Us names and win elections? It sometimes makes Us laugh, Mamma, their sheer arrogance in even imagining this in their dreams! Like Our dearest marito, husband, used to say, we shall give them such a response, their nani—nonna—yaad karegi.

Spesso, often, Mamma—and We can only tell you this—keeping this show going is full of tensione. Imagine, We had to sweat in 45 degrees Centigrade heat, addressing meetings, smiling, laughing, lifting bambini, stroking the backs of the old people. It can get so faticoso, tiring, so exhausting, so enervating, so exasperating. We feel so drained sometimes. But, Mamma, We kept going for the famiglia’s sake and for the sake of Our bambini, as always.

Oh you should have seen them, Mamma, Our Rahul and Priyanka. They were simply staordinario, excellent! Rahul is so saggio, wise, so intelligent, so attraente, attractive. He says all the right things. Ma insoma, but after all, whose son is he? Whose grandson is he? Whose great-grandson is he? Whose great-great-grandson is he? Do you know what he told the crowds in Rae Bareli? ‘‘Although I represent Amethi, I consider myself an MP from here too.’’ The gente just loved it, they went wild and showered him with the petals of rosa!

You should have seen them, Mamma, veramente! And then We appointed Priyanka as Our poll agent. She too was simply meraviglioso, marvellous! ‘‘My grandmother taught me politics is service, sewa,’’ she said and people went wild. Mamma, We have never been so proud of Our bambini. When We look at them, We know—nay, We are sure —that the future of this country of uno billiono is in the best hands! You know what they say, ‘‘Democracy is nice, but Dynasty is Best’’.

Do write. Ciao for now,Ti amo,Sonia

–pamela.philipose@expressindia.com