It was business as usual for Opposition Leader V S Achuthanandan who turned 89 on Saturday.
He got up at 5 in the morning, walked for a while, bathed, went through the day’s newspapers, practised yoga, had breakfast and later met mediapersons to express his stand on Kochi Metro, Air India and the UDF move to sabotage the credit and semester system in universities. As usual, there was no special celebrations. Interestingly, VS got more greetings from Congress leaders than those from his own turf. He received greeting calls from Union Defence Minister A K Antony and Excise Minister K Babu, while Speaker G Karthikeyan paid a visit and handed over a bouquet. Pirappincode Murali MLA, and poet Sugathakumari also greeted him in person. CPM politburo member M A Baby rang up and greeted him.
Born on October 20, 1923, Achuthanandan is fit as a fiddle at 89 prominently due to his strict routine and active political acumen. Achuthanandan had a traditional sadya with family members at noon. Wife K Vasumathy served vegetarian dishes such as ‘avial, cheerathoran and erissery.’ He enjoyed the feast with wife, son Arun, daughter Asha, son-in-law Thankaraj, daughter-in-law Rajani, and grandsons Aravind and Arjun.
Though VS had stated that there won’t be any birthday celebration, Cantonment House, the official residence of the Opposition Leader, was brimming with activity right from the morning. ‘Payasam’ was served to mediapersons who visited the place to attend the press meet. Politics was the topic of the press meet. At the end of the meeting, mediapersons gifted him a red-rose bouquet, which he smilingly accepted.