Rana Pratap Singh

Dear Diary,

Wellwhatdoyouknow, now you won't even have to remind me about the Rana Pratap statue. The squat little one, remember. I told you all about him earlier. Oh all right, so I didn't, there's a lot of things I don't tell you. Anyway, this statue at Camp's corner, it's been around for years now. It first made its appearance as a mysterious shape that spent several days under white wraps and generated a lot of speculation: statistically a human figure seemed quite probable, but geometrically it seemed far less likely. That the wraps might conceal a heroic warrior king would have seemed far-fetched even to adherents of the its-a-man school of thought. But when the day came, there he was, brave Rana Pratap, not divinely proportioned perhaps, but no less stout-hearted for it.The statue had been installed through the efforts of a patriotic-minded religious group who, as the plaque at the foot of the statue informs, will also be responsible for its maintenance. The need for maintenance came soon enough, alas, because the metal sword in the warrior king's hand was stolen within a matter of days. For a few days Ranaji gallantly fended off the traffic fumes with one outstretched swordless arm, but one morning he was equipped with a new weapon: his other hand now held a lance. Sensibly, the lance was wooden.
Well Diary, ever since then Ranaji has unflinchingly presided over the traffic chaos at Camp's Corner, single-handedly, single-lancedly, single-mindedly reminding drivers and pedestrians alike of a different time, when men were men and horses were horses while cars were not even a gleam in the European colonialists-to-be's eye.
But today, dear D, today all that will change. Suddenly a second figure has appeared on the narrow wedge of the road divider behind Rana Pratap. Like Ranaji in his time, this statue too is swathed in white sheets. The lower part of the new statue looks horse-like, surely has to be a horse, and I'm prepared to offer good odds to anyone who wants to bet on, say, centaur or camel. The upper part leaves a little more to the imagination, but this time I'm going to go with man. Or woman - let's not exclude the possibility of a Jhansi ki Rani Laxmibai emerging from the sheets. But who this putative person will turn out to be seems pretty wide open. Going by the sheer number of horse-and-man statues which have a Shivaji at the business end of the horse, Shivaji would seem to be a strong...er...horse to back. But the matter may not be so straightforward. Firstly this second statue is significantly bigger than the first, and if it turns out to be Shivaji, would that not be likely to hurt the patriotic sentiments of Rana Pratap Singh's admirers? On the other hand, by virtue of its position in front of the second statue, the Ranaji statue will appear to take precedence over the second statue, and followers of Shivaji are likely to take rightful offence at such blatant privileging of Ranaji over Shivaji. No, I don't believe that any thoughtful and sober municipal administration will be reckless enough to precipitate such a delicate situation, and therefore the second statue is not likely to be a Shivaji.
Several other plausible theories do present themselves, however. I have always felt empathy for poor Ranaji on account of the loneliness of his vigil and, given his not altogether athletic build, at times I have even sensed an air of vulnerability about him. Would it not be logical to provide him a companion, some faithful brave warrior who will not leave his king's side even in the most polluted of times? Perhaps that is what the second statue is, something in the nature of reinforcements arriving as the going gets tougher.
Then again, there might be a different explanation altogether. Perhaps the new statue is coming up courtesy of the traffic police, a mounted traffic cop installed to remind drivers of traffic rules and their civic responsibilities. And if that is the case, why not go the whole hog and make it a Canadian Mountie? After all, if Baroda can have its Time Square (without one of the esses), I see no reason why we can't have a Canadian Mountie (perhaps, for local flavour, with a y instead of the ie). And they always get their man, don't they, which is precisely the motto of drivers in this beautiful city of ours.
Lastly, I have a more sinister explanation. The statue is actually a surveillance device to monitor the activities and movements of protestors, dissidents, political opponents and party rebels - a Trojan Horse, as it were. With elections round the corner, nothing is impossible. It might be worthwhile doing a little study to see whether a lot of new statues and monuments are suddenly springing up at crowded public locations and traffic nodes. If it turns out that they are - well, dear Diary, at least you and I will know what's going on!