Whos who of city turn up to meet Hillary

CHENNAI: The who’s who of Chennai turned up to hear Hillary Clinton on Wednesday, the first ever visit by a serving US Secretary of State to the city.Former secretary to the president of India, P Murari, Apollo Hospitals group chairman, Dr Prathap C Reddy, G Ramkumar, son of legendary Tamil film actor Sivaji Ganesan, Congress leader Karti Chidambaram, actors Kamal Hassan and Gautami, Prince of Arcot, Nawab Mohammed Abdul Ali, TN BJP leader Sukumaran Nambiar and renowned danseuse Padma Subramanyam were among the prominent citizens who attended the meet, besides senior government officials and industrialists.The clean and brightly lit auditorium with a capacity to seat about 1,000 persons was fully occupied. The audience were predominantly students. Students from Madras Christian College, MOP Vaishnav, Loyola, Ethiraj, Vaniyambadi Islamiah College and Alpha College of Arts and Science participated.As the auditorium’s capacity was filled, scores of people listened to her speech standing. About 100 students were seated in the hall at the entrance of the auditorium with a television to watch the address.US officials and those from the Consulate here took centre stage and the whole event was perfectly managed. Invitees were allowed only if their names figured in the official list.Dignitaries were promptly received at the entrance and taken to the auditorium. Police officials frisked almost everyone barring Prince of Arcot and actors Kamal Hassan and Gautami.Hillary spoke for 44 minutes. She began her address by 3.05 pm and ended it at 3.49 pm, which was interspersed with applause from the audience. Anna Centenary Library Chief Librarian, P A Naresh made a brief welcome address.