Over 40 minutes, she worked hard to dispel conventional wisdom. No, she seemed to be saying, she wasn't an arrogant, inaccessible, enigmatic politician who rarely gets off her high horse. Today, she patiently took questions, some provocative, some even ``rude,'' as she put it, but so what, she answered them all in measured articulation.

There was a request for a reply in Hindi. Initially, she was reluctant, saying that her knowledge of the language wasn't good. Never mind, said reporters, and she took the plunge. In fact, by the time she had completed her reply many wondered if Hindi came to her as naturally as English or Tamil. Hailing from a Statewhere politicians wouldn't dare have anything to do with Hindi, she broke new ground.

And when the master of ceremonies asked the press to remain cool and maintain order while posing their questions, she quipped that the advice was more relevant to her, given the barrage of interlocutors from the print and television media before her.

Many questions had the potential to provoke her to say things that she would normally not have shied away from. But today, she was a picture of poise and correctness, making her points but rarely leaving the door open for anyone to complain. After all, it was only yesterday that she had pulled off a coup, calling leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party's allies over for a ``self-projection'' tea party.

For instance, she was reminded of her famous statement attacking Home Minister L K Advani for his ``selective amnesia'' when it came to the demand for dismissal of the DMK Government in Tamil Nadu. She didn't bite the bait. Instead, she went on about how good her meeting withAdvani was the other day and how mature the two of them were as politicians.

Asked to comment on the view that she was the troublemaker in the coalition, Jayalalitha was restraint personified. ``I am at a loss to know why I have been made a favourite whipping girl,'' she said. At other times, she wouldn't have missed the chance to have a go at the BJP.

And when a reporter described her as the ``most corrupt chief minister the country has ever seen,'' she didn't show a hint of anger. ``It's a rude question,'' she said. ``The people of Tamil Nadu don't share your perception of me as the most corrupt chief minister.'' She then noted how her party, voted out lock, stock and barrel in the 1996 Assembly elections, had won 30 of the 39 Lok Sabha seats in 1998 along with its allies.

``But the BJP says many seats were won because of Vajpayee's charisma,'' interjected another reporter. ``Well, that can be tested at the time of the next elections,'' the AIADMK chief replied, evoking laughter.

She also rubbishedinsinuations that she was given to political belligerence with a view to put pressure on New Delhi to go slow on the cases of corruption against her. She explained that these cases were being fought in the courts and not one of them had been foisted by the Centre.