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`Seafood Mela' at Loyola College
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"I ate fish for the photograph. But I didn't know that people aren't buying fish because of a virus scare. There is no such virus."
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Film actor `Jayam' Ravi at a `Seafood Mela' being held in the Loyola College, Chennai.
HE BROKE a piece, waved it to the crowd and bit into the crisp slice of fried fish. Actor and former Loyola College student, `Jayam' Ravi, relished his first bite.
So did the principal, professors and students of the college, where a two-day `Seafood Mela' was inaugurated to allay fear among people about eating fish after the tsunami strike. The mela concludes tomorrow.
"I ate fish for the photograph. But I didn't know that people aren't buying fish because of a virus scare. There is no such virus," said Ravi, endorsing fish eating after listening to the problems listed out by the president of the Fishermen's Association, N.E. Raja.
Ravi, with others, gave clothes and money but didn't realise till he came to Loyola that the root cause of the fisherfolk's misery is their inability to go fishing and make a living out of it.
Dependency on Government aid would destroy their livelihood, said Father Peter Francis, professor at Loyola.
"We should create awareness about how a whole cycle of people — from fishermen to sellers — are suffering because the public is not buying or eating fish due to rumours."
The college tsunami relief committee first put forward the suggestion of having a seafood fest on the campus, said principal Father Albert Muthumalai. The students union took over the organising bit by holding a street play, setting up stalls for various city hotels (two pitched in today) and roping in ex-Loyolite Ravi for the inaugural bite.
Students did the rest. They trooped to the stalls put up by Annapoorna and Elite hotels and happily dug into fish biriyani, fish fried rice, fish with chapatti and just good ol' fish.
The mela will be on open on Thursday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Thursday's menu (for all city colleges, schools and fish-lovers)
Fancy dress
Requirement: School children dressed up as sea creatures
Best slogan
Theme: Which collegian can come up with a better version of `Seafood is safe food'?
Best original photograph
Needed: Not yours but of tsunami's. Head to Loyola with your best prints.
By Sandhya Soman
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