In General

An Actor and a Politician

At the Trichy airport, I noticed a few interesting incidents. There was a large crowd gathered just outside the airport. I knew it must either be an actor or a politician out there. And I was right. It was actor Vijay. The craziness of the star stuck fans had to be seen to be believed.

The vehicle in which Vijay was travelling was mobbed. The driver throttled the accelerator full blast to part the crowd and get out of the airport. It was crazy to see fans running behind the vehicle.

Now compare that with a politician who was there at the same time. Veeramani is the head of a party called the ‘Dravida Kazhagam‘ or DK in short. No one bothered about him and he was sitting by himself. The wait was longer because of the delay in Air Deccan’s departure. We stuck up a conversation and amongst many topics were about low cost airlines. He surprised me with his in dept knowledge about SouthWest Airlines and its successful low cost model.

For sometime I was wondering why he wasn’t mobbed like other politicians or actors. Two folks discussing nearby answered that question. He is an ideologist and does not contest election. In other words, he doesn’t have power. And when you don’t have power, you hardly have any supporters. So, there you go!