Aap jahan kahen hum aa jayenge

And what is his recipe for keeping her fighting fit, literally? “Papayya, lentil, alhpa and lots of methi,” he confides and then adds, “nowadays, she has no time to choose what she wants to have. So we make sure we take care of everything.”

Outside Dikshit is working on her own recipe for success. “After a lot of confusion and chaos, things eventually do start falling in place,” she said about the Congress campaign.

“The idea is to have a campaign strategy where every section of the society is addressed,” she said. Then she is curious about the rival strategy. “What does the BJP promise to the voters? I really want to know what is left to be said and promised by them.” At 10 a.m., a television crew moves in, the door is bolted, the mike fixed on her khadi silk saree. “I never get to see the interviews that I give to the electronic media. I just about get to skim through the newspapers,” she points out.

She is worried about the murder of the Samata Party candidate from Nangloi Jat. “Not just the political parties but the voters are also worried about such violence,” she said, avoiding answering questions on who might be involved in the incident. At 11 a.m., she gets the message that the Janata Dal candidate from Gole Market, Himanshu Pandey has arrived and has been seated in the living room.

“You are my god. Your are the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee president,” he tells her. “You are embarrassing me,” she says blushing.

“I have decided to support the Congress in this polls and retired from the contest. The Janata Dal is not fielding any candidate from Gole Market. Which should go in your favour,” Pandey says. “What could be better?,” Dikshit muses. A deal is struck. It is decided that Congress can use the Janata Dal symbol and Pandey’s photograph for the campaign. At 12 noon, she set off for Baljit Nagar, to inaugurate a campaign office for the sitting MLA Krishna Tirath.

Dikshit stressed on onion, mustard oil, dropsy and dengue. “When you go to vote on November 25, try finding the answer for who created the price rise, who made education for your children tougher, made living in Delhi a burden. And when you find the answer, please make the right choice and vote for Congress,” she emphasises.

At 2 p.m., on the way back she makes an unscheduled stop at Ramesh Sabharwal’s house at Kali Bari in Gole Market. On why should she visit the man’s house who till yesterday was threatening to be a rebel Congress candidate from Gole Market, she says, “It is all right. I can go to his house, it is no problem.” She finds him in his striped pyjamas and in a quilt but, thankfully, with no beard. “I am ill. I have a throat ache,” he says and adds, “but from tomorrow I shall work for you”.

“Tell me what I should do, where I should go?” Dikshit asks. She is offered sweets when she points out, “Salt is better than sugar”.

“He has great following here. It is all right this time, but next time round we request you to give a ticket to a local candidate,” a supporter says.

She nods knowingly, and leaves quietly from a house splattered with photographs of Rajiv and Sonia Gandhi.

Lunch is from 3 p.m. to 3.10 p.m. At 3.30 p.m. begins her padayatra which goes on till 6 p.m. She walks through the lanes and by-lanes of Gole Market and also inaugurates a campaign office for herself.

She experiences the dangers faced by a pedestrian when she takes to the main road crammed with Bluelines. She survives and returns home for more parleys. But now the view of the Humayun Tomb is enveloped by the night outside. But the day goes on for Dikshit.