FIGHTING FIT

All in a days work: Age dont rust lauh purush Advani. The NDAs prime ministerial candidate is on the campaign trail every day,across the country,from Pune to Puri,Thiruvananthapuram to Raipur,pepping up party workers and jabbing at weak PMs.
He begins his day around 6.30 am. By 9,he has boarded the special plane that will take him from Delhi to his campaign stops. He returns home only by midnight. What keeps this man going? Frugal meals,several glasses of milk and lots of ambition.
Poll diet: He begins his day with a cup of milk and ends it with another. Breakfast is fruits and a slice or two of toast. Lunch is a chapati or two,with sabzi. Dinner is two chapatis or paranthas. Sometimes,he carries his food from home. He has a sweet tooth and likes chocolate and flavoured milk but usually politely declines offers of food and sweets from visitors and party workers. God decides the amount of food you eat in a lifetime. Whether you have it in 40 years or 80,is your choice, he often tells reporters.
Workout: Goes for a morning walk before he starts the day. When he needs to get all that stress off his chest,he attends meditation sessions,conducted by Sri Sri Ravi Shankars Art of Living team.
How many hours does he sleep? Six hours of sleep is enough to rev him up for another long day.
Health nags: None. At 81,he is super fit.
Energy boosters: Milk
Campaign coolers: Water and flavoured milk.
What he cant say no to: At times,chocolate.
What keeps him awake: He has a cup of tea once in a while but not frequently.
Unwind: Likes to read and watch cricket.
Suman K. Jha

LALU PRASAD YADAV,61
RASHTRIYA JANATA DAL CHIEF

All in a days work: The man who would be kingmaker again spends around 8-14 hours a day canvassing for his party and alliance partners. Lalu Yadav boards the chopper every day between 9.30 am and 10 am and addresses some 8-12 election meetings every day. For constituencies in and around Patna,he prefers to campaign by road,and carries on late into the night.
Poll diet: Lalu is not a fussy eater and loves his litti and sabzi with ghee. He has his lunch in his chopper,while flying from one rally to another. He snacks on cashew nuts and drinks green coconut water to keep himself cool. Dinner is a traditional north Indian meal of chapati and sabzi.
Workout: Laluji hates workouts. After a hectic day of campaigning,all he needs is a full-body massage with mustard oil from his favourite masseur. A bath and this massage is enough to get me going again, he says.
How many hours does he sleep?Between 4-6 hours.
Health nags: None,apart from acidity and gas. Perhaps the bilious battles he has been waging with Congress and Nitish Kumar are to blame.
Energy boosters: Lemon tea.
Campaign coolers: Green coconut water.
What he cant say no to:
Prasad offered by villagers.
What keeps him awake: Khaini and paan.
Unwind: Takes short naps between meetings.
J.P. Yadav

Rahul Gandhi,38
AICC general secretary

All in a days work: Compared with mother Sonia or his sister,who are up by 6 am,Rahul is a relatively late riser. He gets up at 7 or 8 am and begins work around 9 am. Over the next 12 hours,he attends four to five public meetings or addresses rallies attended by thousands.
Poll diet: Has no specific poll diet. Breakfast is fruits and a sandwich. He has both vegetarian and non-vegetarian food but prefers the former. He loves paranthas and has them with sabzi or a non-veg dish for lunch and dinner. He does not carry his food and eats whatever party workers offer.
Workout: He is a sports and fitness freak. Every morning,he does yoga and in the evening,he is either cycling,swimming,running that too,for seven kilometers! or hitting the gym where,we are told,he does everything from cardio to crunches. But during election,he has limited himself to doing only yoga.
How many hours does he sleep? Rahul makes sure he gets eight hours of sleep.
Health nags: None.
Energy boosters:
None.
Campaign coolers: Lots of water.
What he cant say no to: Chocolate. He keeps them in his kurta pockets and often has them during meetings.
What keeps him awake: A cup of chai recharges him on a tiring day.
Unwind: He reads non-fiction and political books.
D.K. Singh

NARENDRA MODI,59

GUJARAT CHIEF MINISTER

All in a days work: One of the most sought-after campaigners in the BJP,he has lent support to candidates across the country,except Bihar. He likes to finish official work early before taking off for campaigning
Poll diet: Breakfast is usually fresh fruit juice or fruits and at times,upma. Lunch is a chapati or two; he has khichdi or bhakhri or something light for dinner.
Workout: Keeps an hour for yoga or pranayam early in the day.
How many hours does he sleep? Around five during election season.
Health nags: None,but drinks warm water when he has to address a large number of rallies.
Energy boosters: Fresh fruit juice.
Campaign coolers: Water.
What he cant say no to: Nothing in particular.
What keeps him awake:Has tea but in the morning.
Unwind: Yoga,pranayam and now blogging.
Suman K. Jha

MULAYAM SINGH YADAV,69
SAMAJWADI PARTY CHIEF

All in a days work: The election season is a relentless one for Mulayam Singh Yadav. Over 14 hours a day are spent campaigning for party candidates,deciding on manifestoes that promise,er,a better non-English future and fixing other poll hassles read Amar Singh has spoken of his love for elder brother Azam again. By 9.30 each morning,Yadavs aircraft takes off from the Amausi airport in Lucknow and he is flown to four to five election meetings spread across several districts. He is back in the party office by 7 in the evening. His day ends at midnight.
Poll diet: Breakfast is mattha buttermilk and besan ki roti. His personal security officer Shiv Kumar carries his provisions on the planecold water in two large thermos flasks and a large tiffin box full of puri,sabzi and achaar,enough for at least five to six persons. Puri and achaar are his favourite food this season. Yadav has a soft spot for the milk from the dairy at his residence. The two hearty buffalos and four winsome cows who reside there provide the milk from which is made his buttermilk and ghee. He often does not have time to touch down at a guest house for lunch and has his meals in his aircraft.
What he cant say no to: When enthusiastic party workers invite him for homemade lunch and sweets,he readily joins in.
Workout: The wrestler of Etawah is a morning person. He wakes up at 4 am and walks briskly for half an hour on the lawns of his bungalow on Vikramaditya Marg,Lucknow. If he has time,he does pranayam for 10 minutes,as taught by Baba Ramdev.
How many hours does he sleep? These days,he barely gets four hours of sleep.
Campaign coolers: Water.
Energy boosters: Sleep.
Health nags: None but he is careful about visiting a dentist once a month. That has been put on hold till after the elections.
Unwind: Rural folk like me do not need things like tea or coffee to keep awake or to unwind. Sound sleep is all I need, says Yadav.
Virendra Nath Bhatt

PRIYANKA GANDHI,37

SONIA GANDHIs CAMPAIGN MANAGER

All in a days work: A typical poll day begins at 9 am and lasts 12 hours during which she attends 15 to 20 public meetings across villages and/or towns.
Poll diet: She follows no specific poll diet. Perhaps she doesnt need to,because she is otherwise a health freak. Breakfast for her is fruits and lots of water. As a believer in Buddhism,she is a strict vegetarian. Her lunch and dinner are the good old vegetables,paranthas,rice and dal. She isnt fussy about where the food comes from and eats whatever party workers arrange for her.
Workout: She doesnt exercise,but does yoga every day at 6 am. Yes,an early riser she is,just like her mother Sonia.
How many hours does she sleep: She does manage to catch seven to eight hours of sleep,which she catches on a normal day too.
Health nags: None.
Energy boosters: None.
Campaign coolers: Lots of water and nimbu-paani
What she cant say no to: This stickler for health gets tempted by nothing.
What keeps her awake: Nothing in particular.
Unwind: A peaceful sleep.
D.K. Singh