New Delhi:
The eight fresh faces in the Manmohan Singh Cabinet have their own way of spending leisure time in style.
From V Kishore Chandra Deo to Milind Deora, all of them are graduates with Minister of State Charan Das Mahant being the most educated. His profile reads "MSc, MA, LLB, PhD".
Mahant, the Korba (Chhattisgarh) MP, lists music, debates, and travelling as his favourite past time. Jayanthi Natarajan likes to play
veena, besides getting active in environment protection activities. She also loves reading books on philosophy, poetry and humour and enjoys amateur dramatics.
Almost all the new ministers have a taste in music. Milind Deora plays jazz guitar and his interest ranges from Indian classical to blues. Deora also loves to read biographies.
Besides music, Deora also likes swimming and playing squash.
Trinamool Congress' Sudip Bandhopadhyay is the only lawmaker in the current bunch to perform in the Central Hall of Parliament. He sang Rabindra Sangeet on the occasion of Rabindranath Tagore's birth anniversary in 1998.
59-year-old Bandhopadhyay says he is concerned about development and renovation of river Ganga in Kolkata and wants to give extra time to make the holy river free of pollution. He spends his leisure time reading national and international magazines and playing with his pets.
If 64-year-old Deo, a post graduate in political science whose interests range from cooking to astrology to music, is the only author among the 'chosen eight', Jitendra Singh (40), a trap shooter of repute, is the only one to win a national medal in sports.
Deo loves swimming, rifle-shooting, billiards, chess, tennis and cricket, while Singh, a BCom graduate, has interests in motor mechanics, flying aeroplanes, photography and trekking in the Himalayas.
It took almost 31 years for Deo to once again get into the Union Council of Ministers, his first stint being in 1979.
Paban Singh Ghatowar (61) organised and participated in educational, cultural and social welfare activities of tribes and communities and is engaged in tea plantation and rural population.
A law graduate, Rajiv Shukla (52) lists journalism as his profession.