Let the crowd carry you to wherever it is headed. No rules apply if you are on the road. The crowds would have taken up the road entirely, a mile of which would have been closed for security reasons anyway. You may not be able to walk on the left side, something that you have known since elementary school as THE rule for pedestrians. So, don’t try and observe such rules. Let the crowd direct where you walk.

Do not try and take a picture of the chief minister’s ride. No point trying to click pictures of the chief minister’s helicopter, even if she is not in it. Security, again, is the reason cited.

If you are a “leader”, do feel free to crash through the entry. No one will stop you. No irksome security checks even though every aam aadmi must be frisked.

Do not try and get in through convenient entries. They will be blocked and no reason will be cited why they have been blocked thus.

Lastly, never ask the attendant police personnel standing by and watching the proceedings with passive amusement why there are so many dos and don’ts. You will never get an answer.

This was the scene at the Rashtriya Dalit Prerna Sthal in Sector 16 , Noida which the Uttar Pradesh chief minister inaugurated on Wednesday. The CM travelled barely 500 metres by road after her chopper landed on a makeshift helipad at a nearby school.

For securing that half-a-kilometre, shops were closed in a two kilometer radius.

For five minutes of Mayawati’s travel, the roads leading to the venue remained shut for two hours before her arrival. But the CM’s visit also got the roads fixed that had needed repairing for months. For around thirty minutes of a political speech in the evening, around 2,500 police constables were deployed from afternoon.

Out of nearly 50,000 people present in the park, around half were leaders of the Bahujan Samajwadi Party. And most of the police personnel were orbiting these leaders. However, when the speech got over and Mayawati started to leave, the respected leaders tossed civic behavior aside and flocked at the the gates. The police, as usual, stood by, unable to control the mob.

The constables were silent spectators of the chaos and commotion that took place after the CM departed. The confusion led to a minor stampede and in the presence of senior police officials, women were pushed and eveteased. The uniformed men did absolutely nothing.

Thirty three acres of land and Rs 685 crore were spent to make a concrete park, right next to Okhla Bird Sanctuary. The park has 24 sandstone elephants electoral symbol of the BSP and 12 life-size statues of Dr BR Ambedkar, Kanshi Ram and the chief minister herself. Whether it is taxpayers’ money well-spent is not something debatable if you are standing within earshot of any of the chief minister’s frenzied fans.

Everything seemed a bit saner after the CM left. The leaders followed after her. The policemen, after their underwhelming performance, cleared the area. That’s when the people dropped their guard with comments on the saga flying free. Some tore off the banners hanging around, probably wanting to carry home some souvenir.