DMK s president M K Stalin among his supporters
On December 5, 2016, the day Tamil Nadu s sixtime chief minister Jayalalithaa died, Sion s Paul Nagarajan shaved his head. Soon, the black-red-and-white border symbolizing his dyed-in-thewool fealty to AIADMK disappeared from the white veshti of this Tamil shop owner and so did the photo of Amma that used to jut out of his shirt pocket at all times. She was an iron lady. Had she been alive, she would ve been the PM, says the 41-year-old native of Thiruvarur district who is fondly referred to as Mumbai Paul as a hat-tip to his backstory. Paul had arrived in Mumbai as a frail teenager in 1996 with barely one pair of clothes and soon became the moustachioed owner of a men s wear shop each in Dharavi and in Thiruvarur, where he is now preparing to cast his vote for the upcoming TN elections on April 6.