At home,former minister Shivraj Patil begins work on his memoirs

400 pages through; hes reading up other memoirs from Clintons to Advanis

In March 1979,when State legislatures across India and Parliament were adjourned,wrongly,to mourn the death of Loknayak Jayprakash Narayan,the Speaker of the Maharashtra assembly,held out. Despite shouts from the members,the Speaker insisted the news should be cross-checked with the Registrar of Jaslok Hospital,where JP was admitted. When the messenger returned redfaced,the third time,to say that JP was still alive,the shouting MLAs were silenced and the Speaker had the last word.

The assembly Speaker,who went on to become the Speaker of the Lok Sabha,and most recently the Home Minister,is now weaving one of his favourite anecdotes into his memoirs.

After resigning,and diligently attending all days of the last session in Parliament,Shivraj Patil is now writing his autobiography.

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He is still looking for a title,and is not concerned about securing a high-profile publishersomeone he knows,based in his hometown Latur would do.

About 400 pages have been completed,written in longhand with his trademark sketch pen. There is a reason: Patil has reportedly read about John F. Kennedys Profiles in Courage and the controversy around it once it won the Pulitzer in 1957. He wants to take no chances about authorship claims as he pens the record of his journey from being the chairman of a municipality in small-town Maharashtra to the Home Minister of India.

Another incident he is recalling in his memoirs is how he assured a then-nervous Finance Minister,Dr Manmohan Singh,how,despite an unruly opposition he would ensure that Indias first liberalised budget would be passed and he did,by calmly sitting out the dharnas and noise drummed up by the Left and the Right.

Although he intends to revisit the entire span of about four decades of his public life in Maharashtra as also at the Centre,a major part of his memoirs will be devoted to his four-and-a-half years as a minister in Dr Manmohan Singh government. But there will be no criticism of anybody in the memoirs, said an aide.

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Patil has been particularly low-key after he demitted office,but has been very visible in his front row seat in the Rajya Sabha. However,he is far away from the nerve centre of Delhis Congress politicsand even the partys Core Group meetings.

Even after the House has been adjourned,he has been based in Delhi,careful to not make a false move. The day starts early,and in the privacy of his Janpath residence,the peacocks and peahens give him company as he takes a walk and then gets down to read and write.

The time he has got now is spent on meetings,discussions and reading other biographies most recently,Margaret Thatchers The Downing Street Years,Bill Clintons My Life and even L K Advanis My Country,My Life.

While he is attending political functions back in Maharashtra,Latur,his home constituency,is out of bounds as it has been declared as reserved after the delimitation. While Patil continues to receive a steady stream of visitors,he is wary of the media and in no mood for interviews.