By Soutik Biswas BBC News Online correspondent in Tamil Nadu

J Jayalalitha holds a fast-paced election campaign in Tamil Nadu

Cars, SUVs, motorcycles, trishaws, vehicles of all hues and shapes, packed to the brim with gleeful political workers waving their hands and flashing victory signs are trying to out race each other in what is looking like a dangerously merry carnival.

We are all chasing Amma (Mother) also known as J Jayalalitha, the mercurial chief minister of a water-starved state known to the outside world for its deep caste divisions, a thriving movie industry, and a religious, hard working people.

Chasing Ms Jayalalitha, a popular film star-turned-politician, is not easy in the maddening maelstrom of her election road show.

The two-dozen-vehicles-long convoy is split into parts. Up front are the upper echelons of party leaders, the imposing security detail, a few media persons, a medical van packed with doctors.

Leading the pack, of course, is Ms Jayalalitha or Puratchi Thallaivi (Revolutionary Leader) as she is also fondly and widely called by her admirers, sitting in an improvised air-conditioned van.

Bringing up the rear are party lackeys, assorted commoner fans of the leader and hacks like me, who have failed to read the leader's mind.

Planning on the move

The few media persons travelling with her had been herded into a car up front in the convoy. They had travelled some 500 km from the capital Madras (also known as Chennai) in the morning to Chidambaram to sign themselves up for the roadshow.

A convoy rushes between election meetings

I wanted to catch the leader at her first public meeting in Chidambaram and turn back. I had been told that the meeting would begin at half past four in the afternoon. When I reached the place at four, people were already streaming out of the meeting place.

The Revolutionary Leader had changed the timing in a jiffy, begun an hour earlier than scheduled, quickly addressed the gathering in the sweltering heat, and moved on.

"You should have guessed it. She changes her itinerary and plans at the drop of the hat," smirked a local journalist, when I huffed and puffed my way up to the meeting ground. "Now try go catch her at the next meeting."

That's how my race to catch up with Amma began in earnest.

The convoy is racing, the cars are tailgating each other, and I am flashing my media card desperately trying to plead with the other drivers that I needed to get to the Revolutionary Leader very urgently. Some agree, others don't.

'Losing battle'

The rest of the traffic, people going to work, returning home, hospital-bound patients in ambulances, is mutely following the convoy.

Posters promote Jayalalitha's election campaign

In the convoy, the cars, motorcycles and vans are plastered with the leader's pictures. There is one party worker on a motorcycle whose licence plate says: "Nothing is Impossible."

That possibly sums up the mood best in Ms Jayalalitha's AIADMK party on the eve of the elections in the state on 10 May.

Her regional AIADMK party has tied up with Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has only a marginal presence in the state. Analysts say it looks like it is fighting a losing battle with a more powerful caste-based alliance led by the rival DMK.

Political pundits reckon Ms Jayalalitha, whose government rules the state now, will be lucky to pick up 10 of the 40 seats in Tamil Nadu.

As we speed through the Tamil heartland dotted with frowsy towns, there are huge billboards of the leaders - called cut-outs in this part of the country - of Jayalalitha saying: "Presently of Tamil Nadu. Future of India."

'Deafening din'

In one dusty town, drowned in party bunting and graffiti of her two-green-leaves party symbol, I spot a AIADMK party poster which says: "The public says Amma administration is an example of a good administration."

Followers carry the AIADMK party flag

There are tiny loudspeakers strung around bony bamboo poles which crackle with high-pitched propaganda songs and speeches lauding the leader.

"The Revolutionary Leader is among us, the Revolutionary Leader is among us," a delirious voice crackles on the loudspeakers as we speed by another town. The din is deafening.

Suddenly, the convoy screeches to a halt. It's a miracle that there have been no pile-ups as yet.

"She must be delivering a meeting somewhere ahead," says a party worker on a motorcycle fluttering with the red, black and white AIADMK flag.

I decide to find out how much further ahead.

I walk for 10 minutes and reach some policemen in the convoy. How much ahead?

"Oh, she must be at least two to three kilometres ahead. Don't even try to walk and reach her. By the time, you reach her, she'll be off for her next meeting," warns a carbine-toting young policeman.

'Kicking up dust'

He's right. As I return to my car, the convoy roars to life again kicking up dust and speeding on into the country.

Posters carrying Jayalalitha's image line the road

Further ahead, Ms Jayalalitha is stopping at places, delivering a written speech from inside her van as people gape at their leader from outside.

Sometimes, she will step out and bless new-born babies who will be soon named Jaya.

"She's not a natural orator. Earlier, she used to talk to people like teacher talking to students," says my friend, Anwar, a photographer.

Now she sits in her van and reads from a prepared speech. At night, she switches on the light in the van, so people can see her properly.

It can sometimes look like a communal prayer to a modern-day goddess in a state where religious faith is strong and which has some of India's most magnificent temples in India.

It's getting late and my driver is at the end of his tether on this political motor cross. And there is little hope of seeing Jaya.

So I decide to turn back.

It's late in the evening, and the high-pitched odes to the Revolutionary Leader are still reverberating through the countryside.

I am the only drop-out. A mass of fans and workers on wheels are still chasing Amma into the night.