Tamil Nadu - Madurai   

Reporter's Diary

The `long arm' of the media was visible on Saturday night on the West-North Masi Street Junction in Madurai from where the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam president, M. Karunanidhi, addressed an election meeting.

Seated on the front rows were people decked up in their best attire. The meeting was telecast live by a Tamil television channel, which used its `long arm' to reach out to the gathering. The hydraulic long arm, fitted with a camera, zoomed in and out of the crowd, flew over the gathering, went up and down and swayed right and left. As the DMK leader climbed up the dais, the crowd, which remained orderly till then, became unmanageable. The media persons, who were seated close to the dais, had to literally bear the weight of party enthusiasts, who started surging forward in their anxiety to have a closer glimpse of their leader. In the absence of policemen, the few DMK volunteers in uniform found it very difficult to bring order.

The about 40-minute dramatic monologue of Mr. Karunanidhi turned into a dialogue in between, with the cadres responding well to his observations. In addition to all the existing titles, Mr. Karunanidhi earned a new one while campaigning in Virudhunagar district, on way to Madurai. He was hailed as the `Mahendra Singh Dhoni of Tamil Nadu.'

In the recent days, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has been flooded with representations, from voluntary organisations and others, suggesting changes to modalities followed during general elections. Of all, a communication sent by the Consumer Rights Protection Council based in Madurai has raised many eyebrows.

The council has suggested that voting must be made as a fundamental duty and those who fail to cast their votes should be punished. Besides, political parties should be prevented from entering into an alliance so that the exact strength of a party in a particular constituency could be ascertained. A candidate should have secured more than 50 per cent of votes to be declared as a winner and a re-election must be ordered if nobody secures above the benchmark, the council added.

It also urged the ECI to fix age limit for the contesting candidates.

People are becoming more and more health conscious. Just a visit to the Race Course Stadium in the early morning will affirm this fact.

Though there are any number of advertisements and bulletins on health, still there are people who turn a blind eye to what is good for them. Hence, many health experts feel that people still require tips to lead a healthy life.

Such persons need someone to prod them to follow a routine to maintain their health. As a solution to these problems, health experts have devised a new strategy.

They are contemplating to use the medium of short messaging service (SMS) to create health awareness. Health tips will be sent through SMS to their patients, besides urging them to pass on the message to their friends and relatives.

It is not a new concept as this practice is being followed in many foreign countries. Once implemented, this will go a long way in helping the people update their knowledge on health and at the same time will help them be in ship shape.

S. Annamalai,

Mohamed Imranullah S. and T. Saravanan

Contributions from S. Annamalai, Mohamed Imranullah S. and T. Saravanan

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