Narendra Damodardas Modi

Narendra Modi was born on 17 September 1950 to a family of grocers in Vadnagar,Mehsana district, in Bombay State (present-day Gujarat).His family belonged to the Ghanchi (oil-presser) community, which is categorised among the other backward classes by the Indian government. He was the third of six children born to Damodardas Mulchand and Heeraben Modi. As a child, he helped his father Damodardas sell tea at the Vadnagar railway station, and later ran a tea stall with his brother near a bus terminus.He completed his schooling in Vadnagar in 1967, where a teacher described him as being an average student, but a keen debater with an interest in theatre.An early gift for rhetoric in debates was noted by teachers and students at the time. Modi also showed a preference for playing larger than life characters in theatre performances which has influenced the image he portrays of himself in politics.

At the age of eight, Modi came into contact with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and began attending its local shakhas, or training sessions. There he met Lakshmanrao Inamdar, popularly known as Vakil Saheb, who was to become Modi's political mentor. Inamdar inducted Modi as a balswayamsevak, or junior cadet in the RSS.While training with the RSS, he also met Vasant Gajendragadkar and Nathalal Jaghda, Bharatiya Jana Sangh leaders who were later founding members of the BJP's Gujarat unit in 1980.

In 2001, when Keshubhai Patel, the then Chief Minister of Gujarat stepped aside, the senior leaders in BJP chose Modi as their Chief Ministerial candidate. He became the Chief Minister of Gujarat in 2001 and has been voted back into power there for four consecutive terms. In fact, his remarkable and unquestionable performance in Gujarat forced the top brass of BJP sitting in New Delhi,to make way for him and posture him as the Prime Ministerial candidate of the party in the 2014 elections.

Narendra Modi was sworn in as Prime Minister on 26 May 2014 at the Rastrapati Bhavan. He is India's first prime minister born after the country's independence.In a first of its kind, Modi invited all SAARC leaders to attend his swearing-in ceremony;the attendees included Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai, Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Bhutan Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay, Maldives President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom, Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam of Mauritius (SAARC observer), Nepal Prime Minister Sushil Koirala, Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif, and Speaker of the National Parliament of Bangladesh Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury.Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina could not attend since she had a scheduled state visit to Japan and deputed the Speaker of National Parliament of Bangladesh to attend the ceremony on her behalf

From a tea vendor to becoming the Prime Minister-designate of the largest democracy in the world, NarendraModi has indeed scripted a success story that can inspire each one of us.What is remarkable about his success story is that at every difficult juncture in his life, he had the courage and conviction to chart out a positive outcome for himself.He turned every negative into a positive and made sure that all victories count, big or small.

When asked in interviews what one quality he would attribute his success to, he repeatedly mentions his optimism and positive attitude alongside his hard work.He often projects his positive attitude by showing a glass half-filled with water and assuring everybody, that to him, it always seems filled to the brim.While the bottom half of the glass is filled with water, he assures everybody, that the top half is filled with air. It is only a matter of perception, then.

Awards and recognitions

Gujarat Ratna by Shri Poona Gujarati Bandhu Samaj at Ganesh Kala Krida Manch on celebration of centenary year.

E-Ratna award by the Computer Society of India.

Best Chief Minister – In a nationwide survey conducted in 2007 by India Today magazine, Narendra Modi was declared the Best Chief Minister in the country.

Asian Winner of the fDi Personality of the Year award for 2009 by FDi magazine.

In March 2012, Modi appeared on the cover of the Asian edition of Time, one of India's few politicians to have done so.

Modi was featured in Time's 2014 Time 100 list of the most influential people in the world.

Modi has become the most followed Asian leader on Twitter.

In 2014, he was ranked as the world's 15th most powerful person by Forbes