Enduring fascination for Jaya!

Madurai, Apr 9 (UNI) Age is no deterrent for this ninety-year-old woman who waited for hours to have a glimpse of Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa whom she admires ardently ever since she interacted with her more than two decades ago.

She held aloft an old photograph of a young Jayalalithaa, taken way back in 1984 when she, as the AIADMK Propaganda Secretary, had visited Mathichiyam area in the temple city. She had visited the place to console the families affected by a major fire in a timber depot which gutted a number of huts.

Ninety-year-old Veeraye, a resident of the locality, then a local functionary of the AIADMK, had an opportunity to interact with the leader. Since then her admiration for ''amma'' never ceased.

Only the photograph being the witness to her cherished memories of the past, she had brought it for the roadshow. Veeraaye lined up with fellow AIADMK workers and volunteers to greet the party supremo near the century-old Albert Victor Bridge, the first of the roadshows of the Chief Minister.

Taking pride in proclaiming her enduring admiration for 'amma', she urged those around her to raise slogans in praise of the ''puratchi thalaivi'' (revolutionary leader).

UNI CR VV MSJ RK2001