CHENNAI: Politicos got a glimpse of another facet of AIADMK general secretary J Jayalalithaa at an Iftar party on Wednesday — that of a storyteller.
At the party hosted by the AIADMK, Jayalalithaa observed that as the five tenets of Islam — religious faith, the daily recital of Quran, fasting, helping others and undertaking the Hajj — were mandatory for Muslims, the holy month of Ramzan gave ample opportunities to fulfill two of them — fasting and charity.
She then narrated the story of a football that complained to God that despite the fact that both the football and the flute were filled with air, people treat each differently. While they put the flute to their lips, they kicked the ball around, it rued. The Lord smiled and said, “How you handle air makes all the difference. The flute receives air and releases it in the form of melodious music. But you (the football) retain the air you get, so you get kicked around.”
The moral of the story: history praises and records the deeds of those who are generous, while time punishes stingy fellows, she added. Drawing a parallel with the Muslim belief, she said everybody should be ready to share he has with the disadvantaged sections of society.
The Iftar party was attended by MDMK general secretary Vaiko, CPM leader N Varadarajan, CPI State secretary D Pandian, Arcot nawab Mohd Abdul Ali, Jawahirullah of the Tamil Nadu Muslim Munnetra Kazhagam, Dr N Sethuraman, Hyder Ali, Inayathullah, AIADMK MLAs and other party officer bearers.