Hair today

Though media reports suggest the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati has her work cut out in the Assembly elections underway in her state, she has certainly made her presence felt among the young non-electorate. Or so team-Anna member and former police officer Kiran Bedi discovered recently. Travelling on the Aligarh-Mathura road she stepped out of her car to embrace children living in abject poverty — and found the welcome not so humbling. As Bedi appeared, the children ran to her saying, “Mayawati has come.” An embarrassed Bedi later said, “It was probably my hair,” referring to her short crop, which partially resembles the chief minister’s.