Visitors to Marina throng Jayalalithaa’s memorial

The entrance to the memorial was packed with a sea of humanity with scores of families and groups of friends trying to enter the premises. To beat the queue, some of them scaled the walls on the side, jumped across the railing to the other side, even as the police personnel deployed on the spot watched keenly. 

The visitors to the memorial this year were more than the last year, conceded a police official. “The MGR memorial is crowded every year, but this year, the number of visitors has increased. Since morning, thousands of people have come to pay respect to late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa. 

Despite the crowd, we haven’t had any untoward incidents,” said the official. Sona, a BCom student, had come to the memorial with her family and cousins. “We decided to come here because we haven’t had a chance to see Jayalalithaa’s memorial,” she said. 

However, some like Padmavathi couldn’t get past the crowd, into the memorial. “This is the first time I am coming here and I am disappointed that I could not get in. There was such a huge crowd waiting to enter the premises. I may have to return without paying my respects to her,” said the 41-year-old homemaker. 

Kalyani S, a regular visitor to the memorial, said she wanted to pay her respects to the two leaders – Dr M G Ramachandran and J Jayalalithaa, on Kaanum Pongal. “I come here regularly on Sundays. But since it was a festival, I wanted to visit the memorials. Since it is MGR’s birthday on January 17, I decided to pay a visit to the memorial a day before,” said the 53-year-old, who runs a saree business. 

A large number of people had come from various parts of Chennai to visit the memorial. Ravi K, a 41-year-old government employee, had come from Vyasarpadi with his family. “After visiting both Amma and Anna memorials, we headed to the Marina beach, where there are many food stalls and merrygo-round rides for the children,” he concluded.