Practical Chennai finds its feet, returns to normalcy

Chennai: Chennai woke up to puffy white clouds against a backdrop of an azure sky. A typically lazy Sunday morning had replaced the drizzle of Saturday night and with it the pale cast of thought. The warmth and the light were symbolic of a quick recovery from the mixed emotions of Saturday and the tensions surrounding the events in which the chief executive of Tamil Nadu had been jailed in a neighbouring state she had been born in - a concatenation of circumstances, indeed.

Life in the practical city had come quickly to normal. There were steaming idlis and vadais to be had from the nearest restaurant - a refreshing change from the previous night when newspaper staff members, manning an essential service, were reduced to foraging for food in roadside eateries. Even the one chain restaurant that opened late night was shut quickly Saturday night just as the stoves were heating up to cook the orders placed. The reputed restaurateur had said refunds would be made the next day.

The drive to office had been quick on near empty roads marked by the reassuring presence of squad cars, their red and blue warning lights on the roof blinking on and off alternately, on the thoroughfares. In the cool aftermath of the morning after, the foremost thought was this is a legal battle that will somehow find greater speed now that a verdict had been delivered. Until then, life will go on as ever since pragmatism had taken over.

The first practical step had come on Saturday evening itself with the seasoned administrator now in a ceremonial post at the Raj Bhavan moving at the speed of thought, summoning the chief secretary and the top cops. He did not ponder on constitutional interpretations, which the legal eagles could debate at length in their columns. Governor K. Rosaiah swung into action calling for control. The message must have got through to the ruling party's second string leaders and cadres too and the reactive violence was reined in.

The malls opened and the multiplexes drew reluctant crowds and Sunday began to gather some pace. There were lives to be lived, movies to be seen, things to be bought, snacks to be consumed. The people were on the move again while the state machinery swung into action, executives flying to Bengaluru to meet the boss and top cops meeting to ensure controls remained in place.

The larger issue will play out in its own time and in the meanwhile the state would be helped towards returning to its state of normality. The political events had their own resonance. Tears were shed copiously at the MGR Samadhi, a magnet for the cadres of the ruling party. There were demos here and there, road blocks in the districts, bus stands struggling to come to life as question marks still remained against inter-state bus services. Sunday after a Saturday like that seemed a Godsend because people could catch their breath and not be on the road if they did not have pressing work.

The roads around the former Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi's residence in Gopapuram were a fortress. Cops were all over the place and one of their buses had shut off access to the Lloyds Road on the eastern side. Tension was palpable in the air, but only to be expected given the politics. Even so, there was efficiency as police waved the traffic on, their job focused on the absolute need to keep order while the emotions were still running high. Car movement in the city was more orderly than usual as even the 'yellow devils' of autorickshaws seemed to have imbibed the mood of caution.

Monday should be even better, what with a new Chief Minister to be sworn in and with it any kind of political vacuum would be made to disappear. The last time O. Panneerselvam sat on the gaddi, he was a paradigm of dignity, never once stoking a controversy, always aware of his interim status and loyal enough to carry out a task without letting anything come in the way of a faithful carrying out his duties.