A politician's lighter side
Saturday, 03.04.2010, 10:14am (GMT+5.5)
IN ANYONE'S life, there will be occasions for laughter. Where the person happens to be a politician, and a popular and dynamic one at that — like Oommen Chandy — such occasions are likely to be innumerable. Chandy, known as ‘Kunjunju' in circles close to him, started off as the president of the Kerala Students' Union and came to occupy several positions of authority in public life including Member of the State Assembly, Minister, and Chief Minister.
In this book, Chandy's Press Secretary narrates as many as 49 episodes that bring out the lighter side of Kunjunju, and most of them are indeed funny. It is clear that a lot of care has gone into the selection process, the underlying objective being to boost his public image and the chemistry of his mass appeal. To mention just two revealing pieces of information: he does not find time to visit a hair-dresser since he is always surrounded by people (his wife does the job!); and he has only two pairs of dresses.
Chandy's passion for simplicity and transparency; his astuteness as a politician and student leader; and the organisational farce enacted in the name of “mass campaigns” come across clearly. If the fact that his room in the legislative hostel was an ‘open house' demonstrated his hospitable nature, the incident about the embarrassment he met with when, in the Assembly, he could not make a speech, the copy of which had already been distributed to the press makes amusing reading.
Alpam Karynagalum: P.T. Chacko; DC Books, DC Kizhakemuri Edam, Good Shepherd Street, Kottayam-686001. Rs. 60.
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