Tamil Nadu poll snippets: That binding factor called halwa

Halwa, the sweet delicacy from the North must have entered this Tamil-speaking region, during the Maratha invasion of Thanjavur, but now, it has entirely identified itself with the households in Tamil Nadu, along with the steaming hot coffee, and soft idlis. Tirunelveli Halwa and Iruttukadai (dark room) Halwa are doing roaring business within and outside the State and for the first time, this sticky sweet has played a political role, by helping an alliance that was on a sticky wicket, to remain intact.

Halwa has not only glued together two strong NDA leaders, who had fallen apart after striking an alliance for the Loks Sabha polls, but has also ensured that camaraderie prevailed between them.

MDMK leader Vaiko’s recent meeting with M. Karunanidhi’s son, Alagiri, had upset DMDK leader Vijayakant that he decided to skip Vaiko’s Virudhunagar constituency during his campaign.

Vaiko made repeated attempts to mollify him, and as part of damage control, sent across invitations to his house in Kalingapatti, but Vijayakant had failed to respond.

On April 1, some well-wishers of the DMDK leader suggested that he accept Vaiko’s invitation, since the MDMK symbol ‘top’ was considered lucky to the Captain, as he fondly called.

It was the scene involving the ‘top’ in the film

Çhinna Gounder that shot Vijayakant to fame. When Vijayakant arrived at Vaiko’s house, the latter served him a plate of halwa.

Smiling mischievously, Vijayakant remarked, “Hope media men do not report the event saying, ‘Vaiko gives halwa to Vijayakant’,” amid squeals of laughter. Needless to say, ‘serving halwa’ in Tamil Nadu meant ‘taking someone for a ride’.