Amma came, saw and conquered

As I stood there waiting for Amma to come, I heard a voice behind me, 'Are you a reporter?' I turned around. Two men in white shirt and dhoti were standing there. They introduced themselves as Kovai Ali Akhtar from Coimbatore and Karoor MGR Seetharaman from Karoor. Both of them also saw to it that I wrote their names correctly on my notepad.

They had come all the way to witness Amma starting her campaign. It was only then they would be able to tell all the people of their villages about the event. Ali Akhtar who writes songs in praise of Amma and also sings at public meetings, was there to see her first campaign so he could authentically write songs.

Seetharaman, a theatre personality who hailed from Karoor, got the nickname MGR after he started playing the characters immortalised by MGR on the big screen. He proudly told me that not a single party meeting happens in the interiors of Tamil Nadu without him moving around as MGR. He then took out various press cuttings with his pictures as MGR. "When MGR was alive, I used to dress up as his characters, and I had received several gifts including rings, money, shawl etc from him. After his demise, I always dress up as MGR with his cap because that is what people want to see. I am here just to see the first campaign of Amma so that I can talk to the villagers about what I saw here."

Both MGR Seetharaman and Ali Akhtar then sang a few songs and posed for pictures showing the victory sign made so famous by MGR.

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