Look who's talking now

Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was a different man from the taciturn, silent figure during his 10-year tenure in office. At the iftaar party, Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Vice-President Rahul Gandhi sat at their respective tables surrounded by political bigwigs, whereas Singh sat in isolated splendour with non-political personalities such as actor Sharmila Tagore and former election commissioner S Y Quraishi for company. But Singh was seen chatting freely with journalists, politicians and everyone who stopped by to greet him. Ironically, his animation was in sharp contrast to the Gandhi duo, which chose to keep journalists at arm's length.