The Bharat Ratna for former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was long overdue and would, probably, not even have materialised had the BJP not formed a Government at the Centre. I had the opportunity to see Mr Vajpayee address the public in 1982 in Delhi. It was the peak of summer and the people were upset about water scarcity. Mr Vajpayee smiled and said in Hindi, “I understand your problem. Even I haven’t taken a shower. But, what can I do for youIJ You don’t give us an opportunity to improve the water supply”. There were peals of laughter. Such was his wit that he could disarm even his bitter critic in no time.
There was another incident, when our employees union had invited Mr Vajpayee to mediate the restructuring of a department. He arrived by lucknow Mail on August 13, 1991. As an amateur photographer, I was privileged to cover the event, and would like to share one photograph, my prized possession, that I took at that time.