I always considered Vajpayeeji not as a politician but a statesman, someone who guided the nation. I also related to him as a poet. For me, he was an artist who was trying to paint his beautiful vision on the canvas of India. He did not indulge in Machiavellian tactics to be on the throne. He had a poetic approach; he was a maha kavi, a granth.

My relation with Vajpayeeji was unique. He had phoned me twice to say that he enjoyed watching Movers & Shakers. His foster daughter [Namita Bhattacharya] would tell me how he would keep chuckling when I spoke like him. It was my admiration for him that I did impressions of him, I don't like the term imitation. There was something endearing about Vajpayeeji. I looked up to him and that's why I kept talking like him in my talk show. He was there in every episode from day one.