Jayalalithaa dead: Poes Garden was her closet of comfort, her chamber of secrets

The lane off the ever-buzzing Cathedral Road is mostly quiet. Save for the police post right at the entrance, the road, dotted with rambling bungalows and high-end apartments, is remarkably nondescript. That this street leads to one of the most well-known addresses in the State, Veda Nilayam, the Poes Garden residence of Jayalalithaa is both surprising and revealing. [caption id=“attachment_3142288” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Jayalalithaa’s residence Veda Nilayam at Poes Garden. Image courtesy: NewsToday[/caption] And Veda Nilayam itself (36, Poes Garden, Chennai - 60086), standing as a silent sentinel to much of the politics that has unravelled in this State for the better of the last 35 years, is an interesting paradox. Much like its famed occupant. It has been part and parcel of Jayalalithaa’s ups and downs through her tempestuous life and times. It was her closet of comfort. Her chamber of secret. Taking stoically, in its concrete cloisters, her many emotional mood swings. Got up in 1967, the house carries her mother’s name (Vedavalli alias Sandhya). It was Jayalalithaa’s tribute to her mother. It was her mother who introduced her to films, and from Ammu to Amma of the entire State, Veda Nilayam provided the backup and bulwark to her phenomenal growth. To be sure, Jayalalithaa also had the ornate and swanky “Siruthavur bungalow” and the equally spectacularly sprawling and splendid Kodanadu Estate, but it is into Veda Nilayam she retreated whenever she needed emotional sustenance. The Siruthavur bungalow and Kodanadu estates were properties she held; Veda Nilayam was her home in an all encompassing sort of way. She was safe as long she was in there. All guardian angels keeping a strong vigil on her safety and health. After all, that house was her mother. Her troubles were only when she was in the outside world. There are portions of the building that visitors and guests have never been privy to, much like the emotional recesses in her mind that no one else was aware of. What we mostly saw from outside of the building — beautiful, imposing, impressive, stylish, multi-functional — camouflaged the many interiors that we can only imagine was verily a metaphor for Jayalalithaa. And on this day, the nooks and crannies of the house will surely be crying. Its owner won’t return to its comforting embrace anymore. A home, from on, will just be an address. The author is editor of News Today, a Chennai eveninger By arrangement with newstodaynet.com