Cho watched Jaya’s funeral just hours before he passed away

The last visuals journalist Cho Ramaswamy watched was the death procession of former Chief Minister J Jayalalihtaa, a few hours before he himself passed away, due to cardiac arrest on December 7.

According to Soundara Ramaswamy, wife of Cho, Jayalalithaa would often tell her friend of several decades that he would live longer than her, a prediction that came true. Recalling the bond between the two, she said, “Even when Jayalalithaa turned 60, she visited our residence to seek his blessings."  During that visit, Jayalalithaa told Cho that she was “the longest- living member of her family. Her parents and close relatives had died at an early age.” The journalist was one of the few persons, she respected throughout her life.

Towards the end of their lives, the good friends had one difference of opinion. This came after the Tughlaq anniversary function in January 2015, in which Pazha Karuppaiah, who had walked out of the AIADMK, was allowed to take part in the event, where he lashed out at the state government. She stopped talking to her friend for a while. However, she visited an ailing Cho in hospital in the last week of August, said Soundara. They did not have much communication after that. Cho too was admitted to the ICU ward in Apollo Hospital on December 3 but he was aware that the AIADMK leader had passed away.