Microsoft chairman Bill Gates' unpublicised visit to Chennai on Thursday was marked by moments of anticipation and adoration, poignancy and politics.
CHENNAI: It started as a wild goose chase at noon and was left as an open-ended Sherlock Holmes plot - sans murder — by evening. Microsoft chairman Bill Gates' unpublicised visit to Chennai on Thursday was marked by moments of anticipation and adoration, poignancy and politics.
The richest man on earth landed in a special aircraft at the Chennai airport in the afternoon and headed straight to the Government Hospital of Thoracic Medicine in suburban Tambaram. He took a round of the three wards where 300 AIDS patients were housed and inquired about their well-being.
Outside, reporters fought with his private security men who outnumbered local police who stood as mute spectators. After the paparazzi gate-crashed into the wards, Gates reportedly told his aides that he didn't want pictures of AIDS patients in the next day's newspapers. The guessing game had just started, as Gates and his entourage had booked suites in three star hotels in the city in different names. After 'leaking' the information that he would be going to the Le Meridian Hotel, Gates went to Taj Coromandel. Sources told DNA that Gates spent some time in the afternoon in a Taj suite booked in the name of Mr & Mrs Walter.
Microsoft employees who called the shots kept everyone including the company's own public relations consultant guessing about Gates' whereabouts. "He did meet some of our volunteers, but I am not supposed to give details," said an activist of an NGO funded by Bill and Melinda Foundation for rehabilitation of AIDS patients. The first clear information to the media came after noon that Gates would be visiting DMK leader M Karunanidhi at his Gopalapuram residence at 5:45 pm. Union IT minister Dayanidhi Maran, on whose 'personal invitation' Gates included Chennai in his itinerary, waited at the entrance to take Gates to his grand-uncle Karunanidhi.
While Gates inquired about ancient Tamil savant Thiruvalluvar and his epic Thirukkural, Karunanidhi said, "I presented him the English translations of my interpretations of Thirukkural and other books." Karunanidhi requested Gates to invest more in India, especially in Tamil Nadu. After Gates left without answering any queries from the reporters, Karunanidhi was asked how he felt about the richest man coming to his doorsteps. Pat came the reply: "He had come to borrow some money from me." Before he flies to Bangalore on Friday, Gates is scheduled to meet chief minister J Jayalalithaa and address a gathering of corporates in Chennai.
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