Yup. There was actually a cortege for the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew. It involved at least three trucks and hundreds of people (we cannot see the tail end of the procession even after a minute).

While the kind of respect might startle most Singaporeans, Indians in rural Tamil Nadu have long regarded Lee to be a hero of sorts.

Banners included condolence messages such as:

"Lee is like the Himalayas. He is a tall leader who eradicated poverty from many Tamil families. Our deepest condolences."

"He is the real protector of Singapore.He considered all Tamils his children."

According to one Bagya of Paravakottai who spoke to The Times of India: "At least one person in every family here is either working in Singapore or has worked there. This has helped entire families to build a better life.We were praying for his recovery when we heard he had been admitted to a hospital. He was another Mahatma for us."

Mahatma is sanskrit for "venerable" and is an honourific term famously accorded to Gandhi.

Top photo from here.

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