Gwalior lines up for its Maharaj

gwalior: the entire city remained closed for the third successive day on tuesday as people tried to come to terms with the sudden death of madhavrao scindia. huge crowds lined the streets, some waiting for hours together, to get a last glimpse of their 'maharaj'. others found perches on rooftops. the mortal remains of the scion of the house of scindias reached the air force station by a special plane from delhi at 12.20 p.m.for the funeral which will take place at 10.30 a.m. on thursday. the body was lowered on to a gun carriage from where it was taken to the rani mahal at the jai vilas palace. accompanying the body was his widow madhavi raje, a sombre jyotiraditya, his son, sister usha raje, jyotiraditya's father-in-law sangram singh gaekwad, son-in-law vikramaditya and dau-ghter chitrangada. madhavrao's two sisters, yashodhara and vasundhara, had already arrived by another special plane earlier. congress leaders motilal vora, mohsina kidwai, k natwar singh, pranab mukherjee and digvijay singh (madhya pradesh chief minister) also accompanied the body from delhi. a number of scindia's loyalists could be seen sobbing. slogans of "madhavrao scindia amar rahe" filled the air as the carriage began the 12-km-long drive to the jai vilas palace. following the carriage was a motorcade of not less than 200 cars. it will be quite a while before people can repose the same confidence in scindia's successor. "jyotiraditya is still too young. and he has much to learn," observed a bystander. at some street corners, school children showered flowers and petals on the carriage. some flashed placards. scrawled on one was: "by cruel destiny gwalior has been orphaned." such was the pressure of people and vehicles that it took a full two hours for the gun carriage to reach the palace. a crowd, albeit a smaller one, had already gathered at rani mahal. some tried breaking the cordon, but were shoved back by the police. amid chanting of vedic hymns, madhavrao's body was placed under the porch, where it will remain till the funeral on thursday.