Cover-up job

The work was completed on Wednesday and the statues are to remain covered till the elections end in March.

On Wednesday,with hours to go for the deadline set by the EC,men hurried about at the Samajik Parivartan Prateek Sthal in Gomti Nagar,Lucknow,one of the many parks that Mayawati has built across the state. While the elephant statues in Lucknow were covered with tarpaulin sheets and cloth,plywood and iron frames fitted with bolts were used to make box structures to cover statues of the chief minister. The 15-foot-high statue at the Gomti Nagar park was fast disappearing behind rows of plywood—three sheets in two rows,all bolted to iron frames,covering each side of the statue.

“People were working here all night,but I joined only in the morning,around nine o’clock,” says Sharma.

In all his years as a carpenter,Sharma has made everything from window panes to furniture,but nothing like this: a sheath for a statue,and of the chief minister,no less. So unusual an assignment that Sharma jokes when asked if he knew why this exercise was being undertaken: “Haan bilkul. Hathiyon ko thand lag rahi hai aur Mayawatiji ko nazar lag rahi hai,isiliye dhakne ko kaha hai (We have been asked to cover them up because the elephants are feeling cold and Mayawati is being cast an evil eye).”

And on a serious note: “Someone told me the government is covering these statues because of the elections. But didn’t the government know this when they were building the statues?”

Sharma belongs to a family of carpenters from Munger district of Bihar. Ten years ago,he left home for Lucknow after his family’s saw factory shut down. In Lucknow,he supports his family—wife and two children—with the Rs 350 that he earns on days that he gets work. He has a team of four to five carpenters,all from his own village,who work with him. “There are days when I get no work. We just about manage to make ends meet,” he says.

But he hopes his life will look up some day. “I want both my son and daughter to go to school. I could not study beyond class X because there was a lot of work at home and now,carpentry is the only thing I can do for a living. I do not want my son to become a carpenter. He should take up a government job if he can,” says Sharma.

But Sharma is proud of his work. “Have you seen the gates at Sahara City? I worked on them. The gates are made of fibre glass sheets and iron,” he says. Work on covering the statue has been easy in comparison. “All it needs is some basic knowledge of carpentry,” he says,driving nails on to planks to make a temporary ladder to reach the high iron frames around the statue.

Standing beside the statue on an elevated marble platform,Sharma comments on the workmanship. “The statue looks good from far,but from this close,it is not smooth enough. The one outside the Ambedkar Samajik Parivartan Sthal is made of marble and is smooth,” he says. He had covered up that statue the previous day. “Zinda logon ki moorti nahi lagani chahiye,ashubh hota hai (statues of people who are alive should not be put up),” he says.

By evening,the plywood boards box in much of the statue,but there is still work to do. Sharma’s hands move faster. He marks out points on the plywood sheet for drilling and then,with some help,adjusts the sheet and bolts it to the iron frame. A supervisor asks if the structure will stand the strong wind. “Don’t worry,it won’t not move an inch,” says Sharma.

Will he vote in the elections? “I am not even on the voters’ list in Lucknow,” he says. “What difference does casting a vote make anyway? For a labourer,it’s all the same,irrespective of which party forms the government,” he says.