Always Atal about his roots

Dear God, never let me scale suchheights, that my feet no longer touch the earth...’’ That’sVajpayee musing about his roots in one of his poems. Today, the Prime Ministerstands tall as a towering archetype of the Great Indian Middle Class successstory.Growing up in the backwaters of Gwalior during the twenties,Vajpayee’s schoolteacher father encouraged his children to spend theirspare time reading books and writing fiction. And when they grew tired ofindulging in these literary pursuits, Krishna Behari insisted they learn tocook.Krishna Behari was an Arya Samaji and he gave his kids athorough grounding in Vedic literature and mythology. To this day, Vajpayee cansing religious hymns and shlokas at the drop of a hat. He admits his fatherinfluenced him at every step. ‘‘The saddest moment in my life waswhen my father died,’’ he says.Vajpayee was a prolificwriter. Realising he could not make his mark as a poet, he moved into journalismafter completing his MA in Political Science from DAV College, Kanpur. He didhis undergraduation from Victoria College in Gwalior. During this period hereceived a stipend from the Scindia trust set up to promote meritoriousstudents. The monthly stipend helped him pay his fees and indulge in hisfavourite pastime — buying books written by his favourite poets includingSuryakanth Nirala, Bal Krishna Sharma Naveen, Jagannath Prasand Milind and FaizAhmed Faiz. He never forgot this assistance and when Rajmata Scindia died, hesigned the condolence book as ‘‘Atal Behari Vajpayee,Gwalior’’.The lessons of rootedness seem to have beenimbibed by his foster family too. So much so that when granddaughter Neha wantedto travel to Japan with Grandpa, her mother wouldn’t allow it. Neha hadexams and someone suggested that they could be postponed for the PM’sgranddaughter. Nothing doing, daughter Namita reportedly said. ‘‘Theone thing Babji has taught us is to keep our feet firmly on theground.’’Deputy prime minister L K Advani was a closeassociate from his early days. ‘‘My first impression of him datesback to when Vajpayee came to Rajasthan and addressed a meeting there. In thosedays, I was working there and trying hard to learn Hindi. It was not just hisremarkable command over the language, laced with wit and humour, that struck meand held the massive audience spellbound, but the way in which he articulatedall that he wanted to say without hurting the adversary bowled me over. The moreI saw of him, (we even lived in the same bunglow when I moved to Delhi in 1957),the more I realised the greatest quality about him is his accommodating nature— whether it is people, views or elections.’’Amantra he could have picked up from his cooking lessons. For Vajpayee can blenda fine curry, according to friends. His skills at concocting sweet potions islegendary too. Close friends Bhairon singh Shekhawat, N M Ghatate and MukundModi still remember the delectable flavour of his made-to-ordergujiyas.Today, no matter how busy he is, Vajpayee almost alwaysinsists on after-dinner and after-breakfast chat sessions with family andfriends. That’s the time for Vajpayee, the listener, who wants everybodyaround to talk about everything but work.