As the crowds outside Kauvery Hospital where DMK president M. Karunanidhi has been hospitalised thinned, there was enough space to notice the small, quirky stuff that otherwise remained hidden. There were little children writing poems for the leader, students revising from their textbooks, different groups offering prayers for his well-being – the scene could have been right out of the movies.
Undisturbed by the clamour outside the hospital, a young man was found sitting on the pavement in a secluded spot, flipping through his notebook on Thursday.
Denied permission to enter the hospital, N.K. Yuvaraj of Kolathur, the personal assistant of DMK Harbour constituency MLA P.K. Sekar Babu, had to revise his lessons for the ‘Financial Management’ exam, scheduled on Friday.
The 23-year old, who proudly points to a portrait of party working president M.K. Stalin in his shirt pocket, balances his time between politics and higher studies.
The final year student of BBA in a private institution had accompanied Mr. Babu to the hospital. “But policemen denied me entry. All these days, they allowed me in, but I don’t know why they denied permission today,” he rues.
A policeman sitting in a vehicle was spotted perusing a book of Tamil poems (by Kaviko S. Abdur Rahman), even as one of the great Tamil writers this State has seen lay in the hospital bed inside.
A group of Muslims assembled in a corner and offered prayers for the well-being of the five-time Chief Minister. Probably the shortest fan in the crowd on Thursday was Michel Miraclin, who held up a poem she had written for the leader’s recovery.
Food distributed
Food and water were distributed to those who were present outside the hospital.
As the day wore on and there were no more VIP cars zipping past, hardly any one remained outside but for the media and a few loyal party workers, not to mention the police watching over everyone.
