But speak to him for a while and he will tell you his achievements beyond the paranthas in his impressive baritone.

Mr Singh recently won the first ever Asian Zone Rally Champion. And this was his debut participation in an international Rally Championship. And how exactly does he feel about it ? "Well, it's certainly feels nice. What is better is the fact that I have been lucky enough to take up my hobby as my career. And what the victory has certainly proved is that India has immense motorsport potential and needs proper support and guidance from the concerned authorities." Mr Singh won the Singha International rally of Thailand held in Thailand from October 27-29. This, Mr Singh's second consecutive win at the four-round Asia Zone Championship, came in quick succession to his victory in his group event at the Rally of Malaysia. The two consecutive wins, with the rally of Thailand being the last round of Championship, made Mr Singh the first-ever Asian Zone rally champion.

He wanted to be a racer right from the start. "I started driving when I was eight. I would sit in my father's lap, while he helped me with driving.

Slowly, I discovered that I could drive pretty smoothly at high speeds. I am a safe driver, which I think I have inherited from my father. In fact there are people in my family, like my grandparents who can sleep in the car only when I am driving. It was in my college that I realised speed was my career."

Two years after his college, Mr Singh was rallying in the Himalayan Car Rally in 1990, where he stood fourth. "I've never looked back after that," he says, with a confident smile. He is thankful to his family as well as sponsors, J K Tyres, for the kind of support he got from them.

Mr Singh still remembers his first rally car. "It was a secondhand green gypsy which my parents bought for me at Rs 90,000." And what were the other cars he was driving before this gypsy? "I drove our family Fiat and Maruti."

Another very interesting thing Mr Singh tells you is that he has till date not spend any money on rallying. "I just happened to be lucky to be in the right place at the right time. Even my gypsy for the first rally was luckily sold at the same amount it was bought at, after a year and a half."

Mr Singh gives equal credit to his navigator, Mr G S Mann `Bittu', who has been rallying with him. "It is finally the team that matters. Without Bittu, things would not have been the same." And what does he have to say about the scope of the sport in India. "We, in India, have the most wonderful terrain needed for motor sports. We have the desert area, the rocky terrain, all of it in one country. What is really needed is giving the sport the kind of attention it deserves."