Sudden Showers Surprise Chennai And Vijay, Too

Chennai: The sudden showers that gave a pleasant surprise to the people of Chennai on Friday by bringing down the rising temperature that was broiling the city also caught Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay off guard as he went out to make a surprise visit to the M C Rajah social justice students’ hostel in Saidapet.

While many of the common people, who were not prepared for the rains, got soaked in the downpour and even had to stop their two-wheelers and take shelter under roadside canopies, the Chief Minister's inspection went without any hitch as umbrellas were unfolded to take him inside the hostel building, where he interacted with the residents.

Vijay, according to sources, enquired with the students about the facilities in the government-run hostel that was renovated recently through the raising of a 10-storey modern building, and assured to look into their grievances.

State Minister for Backward Classes, V Sampath Kumar, was also part of the Chief Minister’s entourage that he welcomed by the students who openly interacted with Vijay pouring out their grievances that included inhuman treatment of the residents by some staff in the hostel.

The Chief Minister listened to the students patiently as they listed out the complaints that included the strict curfew hours that impeded the students’ preparation for competitive examinations that demand their visiting coaching classes and libraries at odd hours.

Outside the hostel, normal life was thrown out of gear by the sudden showers. Traffic slowed down in many parts of the city and water logging made people trudge through inundated stretches on the roads.

The surprise change in weather was attributed, by meteorological experts, to the formation of a trough extending from an upper air cyclonic circulation over Telangana to the Gulf of Mannar passing across Rayalaseema and Tamil Nadu less than a km above mean sea level.