When he visited his friend in Madurai, people waited patiently to cheer him and lined up on the road when he left

Former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam is known for visiting Madurai with a packed schedule as he goes about attending functions at schools, colleges and hospitals in and around the district. And his two-day visit to the Temple city on Friday and Saturday was no exception. Yet, the octogenarian found time to pay a visit to his former ISRO colleague D. Narayanamoorthy’s modest house at Vishwanathapuram fourth street in the city and spent almost an hour enquiring about the health of the former’s 94-year-old father N. Devarajan, who had been suffering from age-related ailments. Though the police had cordoned off the entire locality and prevented vehicular movement, a large number of people  gathered outside the house to take a glimpse of the  former President. Mr. Kalam entered the house at around 9.20 p.m. and emerged out only at 10.15 p.m. but the crowd waited patiently to cheer him with loud roars, whistles and claps. Then the people lined up on both sides of the road as his convoy passed through with Mr. Kalam waving to the crowd enthusiastically from the brightly lit backseat of an Ambassador car. Mr. Devarajan’s other son D. Sachidanandam said that Mr. Kalam had a great regard and admiration for his father, a retired BSNL engineer. “This is his second visit to our house.  Though we did not inform anybody about the visit, people gathered up on seeing the presence of huge posse of policemen and the mobile metal detectors that were placed in our house.”

Media persons who had assembled for a press briefing by the Collector and District Election Officer in Tiruchi last week were surprised when V.Manoharan, who was shifted as the Returning Officer and Revenue Divisional Officer of Srirangam ahead of the by-election, walked in for a brief and informal interaction. The previous evening, the Election Commission had appointed T.G.Vinay, an IAS officer, in his place. With a disarming smile and folded hands, Mr.Manoharan told the reporters that he just wanted to thank all the reporters for their cooperation and coverage of the by-election related news. “I am moving out now, but wish to thank you all. I have no complaints,” he said, without any hint of rancour.

Sticklers for rules in the University of Madras may regret the resignation of the Head of the Department of Management Studies, a member of the university Syndicate a fortnight ago.

The professor, who turned 60 some months ago, was to retire in June as is the University norm. One of the few Syndicate members who ensured that laws and rules governing the university were followed in letter and spirit, he was respected for his knowledge of the statutes.

In the past several years he along with another senior professor questioned the University’s decisions to appoint heads of departments. With another Syndicate election coming up in a few weeks the University circles wonder if the associations will nominate persons who will take forward his legacy of checking violations.

( Mohammed Imranullah S, S. Ganesan, Syed Muthahar Saqaf )

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> National> Tamil Nadu / February 16th, 2015