It’s close to two weeks since former Congress Chief Minister and incumbent MLA Oommen Chandy passed away, but his final resting place continues to be visited by huge crowds, and his last journey that took 38 hours to cover 158 km still dominates discussions at barber shops, tea shops and get-togethers.
Chandy’s grave at the famed St George Orthodox Church- his home parish at Puthuppally in Kottayam district still gets around 5,000 people daily, cutting across religion and political affiliations.
Many of them are seen with moist eyes at his tomb covered with fresh flowers. Since July 20, candles continue to burn day and night.
Spotted at the tomb were leading travel tour operator Chandrahasan and his wife Jaya- daughter of late Congress Union Minister and Governor M.M.Jacob who had come to pay their last respects.
“Chandy will continue to be remembered not just by those who have met him, but also by all those glued to TV sets for nearly three days to watch the unprecedented farewell in our state,” said Chandrahasan.
Parish vicar of the Church Rev Fr Varghese Varghese said on an average around 5,000 people come and pay their last respects to the departed soul daily. After the 40th day, the Church Committee will hold a special meeting to decide on a memorial for the departed leader.
Already steps are being taken to prepare a documentary film on his mammoth farewell trip from the international airport in the state capital city to the Church in the video, ‘Puthupally Muthal Puthupally Vare’ that was filmed of Chandy much before.
Very soon, all those arriving at the tomb by scanning a QR code will be able to watch the updated version of the documentary film on Chandy.
Meanwhile, the social media is also abuzz with tales of Chandy and his humane nature that catapulted him into a legend.
© 2024 IANS. All rights reserved.