My day in Madras.

It was a day of connecting with people. I was back in Madras after what seemed a long time! My 'saarthis' were Vijayakumar, a mallu, for the forenoon and Raghavan, a tamilian, for the afternoon. My interaction with them threw up some very interesting observations regarding the outcome of the forthcoming assembly elections in that state and I'm giving them in point form below:-
(a) At present, no one is sure as to who will come to power. The party that has the actor Vijayakant(he's known as 'Captain' amongst his followers and had a voteshare of 12% in the last elections. He's playing his cards close to his chest - he' s shown an inclination to side with Jayalalitha but it seems that Karunanidhi is offering him crores to stand independently to split the votes to give a chance to win it!)
(b) Another rumour doing the rounds is that Karunanidhi's guys are offering Rs. 5,000/- per vote. Isn't that crazy? It was colour TVs last time and now, this! It can now safely be surmised that Raja's 2G shenanigans have filled up the party's war chest!

My interaction with Jayapal was informative as well as catching up with our personal updates.

Much to my regret, I couldn't meet up with Mrs. Laila Samson owing to time constraints. I've had very many wonderful moments with the Samsons while I was at Coimbatore during the mid 80s and later, during my forays to Bombay in the last decade. She'd looked after me in her efficient manner and was always a treat to be with! I shall make up for it when I go to Madras next and that's a promise.

The evening was spent at Charlie Mike's. It was great to interact with Sasikala, Arjun and Anish and of course, with Charlie Mike after what seemed to be a long time. As the evening melted into the night, it was touching to note the high esteem that the family has placed on yours truly. It was truly a humbling experience!