A Ganesh Nadar/Rediff.com records a heated discussion on NaMo at one of Varanasi's best-known locations.

Rediff.com's A Ganesh Nadar spent Wednesday night -- the night before the Lok Sabha election in Tamil Nadu -- roaming the streets of a village, to discover the role money plays in getting the vote out in rural Tamil Nadu.

'We have created fear in the minds of villagers so that they don't indulge in wrongdoing. We have already seized Rs 1 crore of bribe money,' Madurai Superintendent of Police Vijayendra Bidari tells Rediff.com's A Ganesh Nadar.

A lone ranger braves the summer sun to get the party's message to voters in a small town in Tamil Nadu.

Sonia Gandhi spends just 30 minutes in Kanyakumari to promote 39 candidates in Tamil Nadu. A Ganesh Nadar listens in.

'I don't think we will need to support or get support from the Congress. I hope there is no such political exigency. The Congress will be gone from the political scene. There is no lesser evil. The BJP and Congress are the two sides of the same evil coin,' anti-Koodankulam nuclear plant activist and new AAP member S P Udaykumar tells Rediff.com's A Ganesh Nadar.

'In Tamil Nadu where film stars are treated as gods, Balu Mahendra was an institution by himself,' Actress Radhika Sharatkumar pays rich tribute to the filmmaker, who passed away on Thursday, February 13.

65,000 Sri Lankan Tamil refugees still live in Tamil Nadu. Rediff.com's A Ganesh Nadar discovers the challenges for the refugees to return home.

A Ganesh Nadar visits the bustling centre that hosts Tamil Nadu's health helpline that answers more than 100 medical queries an hour.

'In 2009 we had 741 new cases of polio. This was the highest in the world. We ran the most apolitical crusade ever. We had the support of every government. We were never short of funds. The central government gave us Rs 11,000 crore a year. In 2011 we had 42 new cases. From 42 to 0 was our most difficult phase,' Mission Director Anuradha Gupta tells Rediff.com's A Ganesh Nadar in an exclusive interview about India's monumental campaign to eradicate polio.

'The food the Sri Lankans gave us was horrible. It used to stink. We used to throw most of it away... In the night my legs used to be in someone's face and his legs used to be in my lap. There was no space... There was no toilet... Both our bathing water and drinking water were salty. We had to beg the guards for clean drinking water.' Rediff.com's A Ganesh Nadar speaks to Indian fishermen just released from Sri Lankan custody.

'I did not come here to contest elections and so I am not going to quit if I lose, television anchor and AAP member Ashutosh tells Rediff.com's Athimuthu Ganesh Nadar.

Research students took out a protest rally on Monday around the university campus, shouting slogans against the management for 'victimising three students, a professor, guest lecturer and a clerk', with the PG students joining in.

When over a hundred fishermen from Tamil Nadu were arrested by the Sri Lankan navy and their boats seized last month, fishermen in coastal Tamil Nadu went on strike. Rediff.com's A Ganesh Nadar visits the coastal towns of Nagapattinam and Rameswaram to discover that the fishermen do not have many choices.

A Ganesh Nadar profiles a non-governmental organisation that has revealed startling figures about the state's poor children.

Madurai Kamaraj University in Tamil Nadu, which has been rocked by student protests over the last few days, closed down two days ago. A Ganesh Nadar visits the campus to find out what went wrong.

A students-versus-vice chancellor battle has thrown the Madurai Kamaraj University into a flux, finds A Ganesh Nadar.

'You have to go from winning elections to winning people,' sociologist Ashis Nandy tells A Ganesh Nadar.

After the court exonerated him in the case, a happy Prof Joseph told Rediff.com over the phone, "I am very happy. I had no intentions of hurting anyone. When the protests happened I had given an unconditional apology to both the public and the college but it was not accepted. Today they know that I was innocent."

Ranjit Sinha has not only insulted every woman in the land, he has angered the sensibilities of every right thinking citizen of the land with his crass remark, says A Ganesh Nadar.