Rajasthan CM Bhajan Lal Sharma | Tackling teething troubles

A political life has a way of bringing a measure to things. If not in a starkly spartan way, Bhajan Lal Sharma retains that good country feel to his daily rhythms: up at sunrise, a brief stroll in the sprawling lawns where the two cows he keeps are always indulged with a spot of patrician patting, and then a busy day interspersed with simple, home-cooked vegetarian meals. A calendar bustling with meetings means he often ends up skipping—or delaying—his early dinner. His demeanour, though, is not devoid of rosy reminders of his carefree, younger days when he was fond of eating—he even won a bet once by consuming over two dozen laddoos at a wedding feast without any water in between. In December 2023, no one would have grudged him a few extra sweets when his name was called out, tambola-style, in the game of chance that decided Rajasthan’s chief ministership. He was nowhere in the race: a first-time legislator, he was being pitchforked from near-anonymity to high office. But from that moment of elation, it didn’t take long to appreciate how much of a “double-edged sword” politics can be, as Sharma confesses ruefully to India Today.