After the sun sets, taking with it party cadre and curious onlookers, there are a couple of people who remain at the entrance of the Apollo Hospitals, literally keeping the mosquitoes company, praying for the recovery of Chief Minister Jayalalithaa.
One of them is 32-year-old K. Manivannan of Kaniyamur in Chinnaselam taluk of Viluppuram district, and the other, auto driver C. Illango (37).
Manivannan reached Chennai after hearing about the Chief Minister’s illness. He has been staying on the road near the entrance to the hospital just to have a glimpse of the Chief Minister after her recovery. “My family has received benefits from Amma’s welfare schemes. I will leave only after I see Amma,” says the man, who claims to have completed his post graduation in English literature before completing B.Ed.
Physically challenged
Manivannan has 80 per cent disability owing to polio infection in childhood and is as yet single. Plonked outside the hospital, he only has enough to buy a few idlis from the Amma canteen a few meters away. He also says he remains hungry for most of the time because he cannot afford anything more. But he remains cheerful saying, “Amma canteen food in Chennai is good.”
Over 200 Scheduled Caste families in his village depend on rain for agriculture in the black cotton soil, cultivating cotton and pulses. After reportedly completing his studies at Perarignar Anna Arts and Science College in Attur, he has been unable to get a job. Owing to his disability, he has not been able to carry out agricultural work, he says in a chat.
“People in Chennai help others. I visit Chennai to participate in functions of the Chief Minister. People show love and respect to visitors in Chennai. I have experienced it myself.”
A beneficiary
Ilango, an auto driver in Poes Garden area, has reportedly seen Manivannan a day after the Chief Minister got admitted. “I came here after watching news on TV in the night. He has been waiting here all these days,” says Ilango, who was also a beneficiary of the Chief Minister’s welfare measures. Ms. Jayalalithaa reportedly handed over the keys of his autorickshaw to him a few years ago at Poes Garden, offering him a source of livelihood.
After dropping out of school in Sankarankoil, Ilango has worked in tea stalls in R.K.Nagar. “I used to get motivated by frequently standing along the road that Amma’s convoy takes,” he says. Arrangements were made by the orders of the Chief Minister for his marriage ceremony which was solemnised along with thousands of other poor people in YMCA grounds Royapettah a few years ago.
“Amma has faith in God. Thousands pray for her. She will rise again,” says Ilango.
