Inaugurating the convention, Sonia Gandhi spoke about the biggest failures of the present coalition government (the usual price rise and no economic growth line), how ``politics is ultimately about social change and transformation'' and the need to harness the enthusiasm of ``young boys and girls''.

All the delegates attending the day-long meeting were enamoured by the Congress president and a number of them were armed with pen and paper to get her autograph. But a large section of them just did not understand what she was trying to say in her brief speech.

Even the class XII students from the Bhartiya Mahila Sarvodaya Vidyalya, who were apparently missing classes to be there, thought ``Sonia was amazing'' and what she said did not really matter.

``We are actually here to see what career options we have after we complete schooling,'' says Pooja Tomar. When asked about what she thought was the main point of Sonia's speech, she just shrugged her shoulders, admitting that she wasn't sure.

Babita Devi from Manipur does not understand English and communicates only in broken Hindi. She has no clue about what was said on the dias. Her other friends are worse, they call her whenever they need to communicate with others.

Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee president Sheila Dikshit addressed these ``young and beautiful people'', telling them about ``equal opportunities and their role as a loving mother, sister and wife''.

``Encouragement for girls has always come from the Congress leadership,'' Dikshit said. ``In public life women have had acceptability and have also risen to important positions.''

There was a lot of cheering when Soniaji finally spoke. ``We have initiated a programme called Desh Ke Liye Ek Saath to encourage school and college youth to be involved in development activities for one year,'' the Congress president said. ``Let us not be obsessed with politics and elections. The ultimate goal is the service of the people and we must never lose sight of this.''

Losing sight was never the question that concerned the delegates attending the convention, trying to understand what was being said was. Even as the Congress president urged the youths to strengthen their link with universities, the message was lost.

Later in the day, Najma Heptullah, Manmohan SIngh, P.A. Sangma and Mukul Wasnik also addressed the girls. The response to these varied from knowledgeable nodding to a blank look.

However, the Delhi unit of NSUI believes that this convention, held after the 1986 one conducted under Rajiv Gandhi's leadership, will enthuse their members to perform better.