• Narendra Damordas Mulchand Modi’s birthplace is Vadnagar, an ancient city almost 2,500 years old, is. It is unique because it saw both Hinduism and Buddhism flourish. It was once the capital of Gujarat which the Chinese scholar Hsüan-tsang visited during his 17-year journey through India in the seventh century and mentioned Vadnagar in detail in his memoirs.
• Born on September 17, 1950, Modi makes it a point of taking the blessings of his mother Heeraben on his birthday. He has four brothers and a sister and is married Jashoda from whom he separated soon after marriage. • Modi’s most striking personal habit is to wear well-ironed and wrinkle-free clothes and, judging by his public appearances over the last couple of years, he owns hundreds of kurtas, all of them stitched by his favourite tailor in a posh shop on Ahmedabad’s CG Road. Modi is also has a craze for watches and sandals. • As a cleanliness maniac, Modi keeps his desk, home and general surroundings spic and span. • Modi likes multi-media presentations and has a flair for technology which he is very enthusiastic about. • Being extremely prudent in money matters, Modi likes to get the most while paying the least. He can be called economical if not a miser. Yes, he is very economical with his own money as well. • Weighing around 84 kg, Modi suffers back-pain at times, with the upper part of the spinal region being the problem area. His feet get swollen when he stands for a long time, but otherwise Modi he doesn’t have any serious health problems. • Having spent ample time in the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Modi’s language, nuances of behaviour and expressions can never be westernised. • Modi has a reasonable knowledge of English but he is not comfortable speaking it. • Modi has done his master’s in political science, but as an RSS pracharak, he learnt all about India, Hinduism and family life when he was staying with RSS followers’ families. • He definitely likes western watches, accessories and homely comforts, but that's all. He is quite conservative, even old-fashioned, on issues relating to women and family, though he will never say so in public. • For almost three decades Modi lived with little money. In his 20s, he arranged and acted in a play in Vadnagar to collect funds to build his school’s boundary wall. Modi has even served tea in his maternal uncle’s canteen at the bus stand in Ahmedabad while studying in college. • Modi fasts all the nine days of Navratra every year – eating only one fruit a day during this time – refusing even the Navratra-special thali-meal, which is traditionally allowed once a day. He fasts out of devotion for Goddess Ambaji, and has changed the landscape of her shrine on the Gujarat-Rajasthan border. Modi has built a Rs 70 crore-plus Shaktipeeth parikrama on the Gabbar hillock, considered highly sacred by devotees. • Modi logs onto the Internet every morning without fail and checks all that is written about him. Even while travelling, he gets newspapers and cuttings of what his critics are saying about him. • As a decision-maker, Modi will not send any decision to a Group of Ministers. • Being a complete loner, Modi has no ‘best friend’. • As a workaholic, Modi goes online at 7 am or even earlier, and call his party men from all over. Attending office early in the morning he works till 10 pm if need be. • Modi sleeps for only five hours – even less. Whatever time he hits the bed, he gets up at 5 or 5.30 am. • Modi has written poems of low literary value. • He admires Indira Gandhi and 20 his icon is Swami Vivekanand. • When he was 17 and 18, Modi left his family and went to Rajkot’s Ramakrishna Mission, Belur Mutt in Kolkata and then to the Himalayas. He wanted to do something but did not know what. So he travelled and wandered around India. • Modi’s favourite food is bhakhri (crispy rotis) and khichdi made in Gujarati style but he knows how to cook, also. • While Modi meets Gujarati Muslims frequently, the easy access given to them is among Gandhinagar’s well-kept secrets. • Modi is a hard task-master and treats government officers as tools to achieve his political goals. • Modi has an excellent memory. • Is a very good swimmer. • Is strictly vegetarian. • Modi practises yoga and meditation. • Under his rule, Muslims in Gujarat have become far better off than in any state of India or for that matter, Pakistan or Bangladesh. • He can speak many languages including Bengali. • Besides clothes, he loves designer spectacle frames, especially the rimless and semi-rimless variety.
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