Once again, all roads lead to Poes Garden

Once again, all roads lead to Poes Garden

Like Jaya, Rajini Too Lives In The Tony Colony

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:04.12.2020

Poes Garden is back in the news. Or rather newspersons are back in Poes Garden.

For the last four years, ever since chief minister J Jayalalithaa passed away, the OB vans of TV channels and the hordes of lensmen had vanished from the upscale locality. Sensing a chance to keep the crowds out, some residents even opposed the state government’s plans to turn Jayalalitha’s home, Veda Nilayam, into a memorial.

But now another illustrious neighbour has decided to take the political plunge. All of Thursday, the press corps was camped outside superstar Rajinikanth’s home in Poes Garden. The crowd is unlikely to go away anytime soon. In fact, it will only swell.

Jayalalithaa managed to keep crowds of adoring party workers away from her home, except for rare occasions when the neighbourhood became a sea of people. But residents still had to deal with the tight security arrangements and a constant stream of VIP visitors and an accompanying horde of press photographers and reporters.

Though Jayalalithaa bought her house in 1967, the trouble for the residents started only in the 1980s, when she joined politics. Rajinikanth was among the residents who had to face these inconveniences. So will he be different? He’s launching a party in less than a month. And you can’t have a party without people.

Gayatri, a resident of Poes Garden, said, "Rajnikanth’s political entry is going to affect the residential character of the neighbourhood. Both turning Veda Nilayam into a memorial and Rajini entering politics will affect the place. It’s a deadend-neighbourhood. They should find a larger place better suited for a political party."

Ramu Manivannan, professor and head, department of politics and public administration, Madras University, said "Poes Garden was a cosmopolitan area and did not have any political significance. It was a socially upmarket area like Banjara Hills of Hyderabad. It acquired political importance after Jayalalithaa joined politics and became a leader and later a general secretary of the party."

Retired IAS officer M G Devasahayam said "There was hardly anything in Poes Garden in the late 1950s and 1960s. I used to go for walks in the area when I was studying in Loyola College. Stella Maris College was being built. The college and the star hotel on Cathedral Road may have contributed to the development of the neighbourhood. A known actor like Jayalalithaa buying a house also may have helped. It became one of the posh localities of the city in the 1980s along with Haddows Road, Harrington Road, and the Boat Club area."

BACK IN NEWS: A file photo shows party workers near former chief minister J Jayalalithaa’s house in upscale Poes Garden