'He lived more amid the people'

By M. R. Venkatesh

CHENNAI, JULY 22. A sobbing and travel-fatigued G.Prabhu, elder son of the Sivaji Ganesan, was struggling for words here early this morning, on arrival from Mumbai after a hectic film shooting schedule in Switzerland.

``I heard of my father's death on landing in Mumbai in the wee hours and I rushed here'', Prabhu said visibly in tears. ``He (Sivaji) is more than a God to me; he is everything to us and our family is here today only because of him'', Prabhu told The Hindu.

Positioning himself for most part of the day beside the refrigerated glass casing in which the body of the white-bearded thespian, draped in a white silk dhoti and shirt still looked majestic, Prabhu said the fact that thousands of people had come to have a last view of his father, showed that ``he lived more amidst you than with us (family)''.

Strange are the ways that the father-children chemistry work. ``It is too personal to share'', quipped Prabhu's brother, G. Ramkumar, when asked whether their father before falling sick recently had expressed anything that could be called `Sivaji's last wish'.

Notwithstanding their grief, the family members also cooperated with the police authorities in no time to ensure that an exit route was provided for mourners paying their last respects.

They agreed to the police suggestion to break open a part of the compound wall of Sivaji's house for the purpose.

Soon barricades were erected and a pathway provided from the main entrance, that facilitated crowd management.

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Section  : Southern States
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