Prime Minister Narendra Modi turns 76, marking 25 years since he first took charge of a government as Gujarat chief minister in October 2001. The journey from Vadnagar to the Prime Minister’s Office has been shaped not only by political milestones, but also by the people Modi himself says left a mark on him, including his mother and father, school teachers, mentors, childhood friends and the ordinary Indians whose lives he encountered along the way.
For PM Modi, some of the most enduring lessons of his life did not come from political office or formal classrooms, they came from a small house in Vadnagar, a railway station tea stall, school teachers who noticed more in him than his grades suggested, an RSS mentor who encouraged him to study, the writings of Swami Vivekananda, and ordinary people whose lives he encountered along the way.
