NEW DELHI, May 7: At 6 am alarm clocks start ringing in Maharani Bagh.

Groggy-eyed residents wake up and rush through their morning ablutions. Why this rush? None wants to be late for a date with the Prime Minister.

6.55 am: Clad in a spanking white Leela Beach Goa T-shirt, cream trousers and walking shoes, Inder Kumar Gujral walks out of his palatial residence.

Slowly at first and then faster as people join him. ``Good morning jee! How are you jee,'' a neighbour, in his late 60s greets him and starts walking with him.

``Namaskar jee,'' adds another man in his late 50s and joins him and soon almost 50 residents, young and old, men and women join the Indian Prime Minister as he walks down the myriad lanes of Maharani Bagh as he has done for the past 15 years. The number of people walking with him have increased from around 5 to almost 50 in the last 15 odd days. Some can barely walk with their pot bellies, yet they limp along.

``I have a small problem,'' mutters one of the walkers in a low voice. He first fumbles but as Gujral smiles encouragingly goes on to describe the eagerness of the Income Tax people to know about his financial assets.

Another neighbour a young entrepreneur laments the corruption at the inspector level in the city police and clerks in the city administration.

``Corrupt ministers can be controlled but the lower staff cannot,'' he volunteers.

Gujral listens nodding his head from time to time. ``But one thing is there. Ever since you became the prime minister the safai karamcharis grab leaves even before they fall on the ground,'' quips a young woman wearing shiny white salwar kameez. Even Gujral smiles as he folds his hands to greet more people some wearing newly bought Nike Air shoes and shorts.

``I love this,'' Gujral tells The Indian Express. ``It gives me an opportunity to know the minds of the people their woes, problems and suggestions. Of course the opinions are limited to the residents of Maharani Bagh but they too come from all walks of life,'' the Prime Minister adds.

Walkers in their eagerness to walk close to him almost tread on each other's toes. While some like Probodh Mahajan proudly say they have been Gujral's walking companions for over a decade, others sheepishly admit their new found love for walking.

``Haallo jee,'' says a woman as she joins the entourage. The women of the area plan to invite the prime minister to their get together. And more of the fairer sex edge closer to the prime minister until one of the men quip, ``there goes the ladies' man.'' Smiling Gujral waves him away until another one says, ``Gujral saab it's just like your younger days surrounded by ladies.''

And for the first time, Gujral asks industrialist S G Rajgarhia to tell him ways of making the tax system more revenue generating for the government.

And as he goes on to describe the lacunae in the Voluntary Disclosure Scheme (VDS), others talk about Narasimha Rao's imminent arrest and Laloo's actions in Bihar and lament about Rajgarhia hogging the limelight with the PM.

``Tell me more,'' says Gujral as problems faced by tax-payers grab his attention. And then every one had a tale of woe with the system. ``Give me a note. I'll look into this,'' he said ultimately. And the residents quickly dub Rajgarhia the finance minister of Gujral's Maharani Bagh cabinet.

A doctor in the area, Dr B R Sondhi is the health minister in the cabinet and a ``domineering housewife'' is the home minister. Defence is left to the SPG commandoes. The six commandoes who walk with the prime minister clad in track suits keep a hawk eye at the movements. Their actions are not obtrusive. They don't hold back the traffic and don't stop little children in school uniform running up to the prime minister to shake hands with him.

But residents are sad. Their early morning date with the prime minister is going to be short lived. Some agree their exercise would be limited to their private gymnasiums once Gujral shifts to his official Race Course Road residence.

And 55 minutes and 50 men later the prime minister walks back to his house.

Alone.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.