Sheila Dikshit Loved Music, Watched Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge 20 Times

Sheila Dikshit, the veteran Congress leader and the longest serving chief minister of Delhi who died on Saturday, was fond of Western music since her young days and would sit near the radio waiting for her favourite songs to be aired. She also developed a fascination for footwear and had a good collection.

Apart from these, reading was her big passion. She also loved watching movies and her first film in theatres was Hamlet in black-and-white.

Even in the midst of hectic political activity, she would take out time for watching a movie and had watched Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Dilwale Dulhania Le Jaenge 20 times.

Sheila Dikshit had mentioned about these in her autobiography Citizen Delhi: My Times, My Life published last year.

"There was no television, and radio was accessible only during certain hours of the day. Life revolved around studying for school and pastimes like reading books, watching the occasional film, and listening to music," she wrote.

"Father was a member of the Gymkhana Club (of Delhi) and during my teenage years when we lived within walking distance of it, on Dupleix Lane, we would get a fresh lot of six books every weekend to last us until the next weekend. I devoured Enid Blyton's Famous Five stories, Richmal Crompton's Just William series and classics like Alexandre Dumas's The Three Musketeers and Victor Hugo's Les Miserables," she wrote. 

Her favourite books were Lewis Caroll's Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, What Alice Found There and the Sherlock Holmes series. 

Friday nights, according to her, were reserved for an immensely popular western music programme - A Date with You - which played the latest songs. 

"Clustering around the radio, we would try telepathic experiments to will the radio jockey to play the latest Doris Day or Henry Belafonte records!" she wrote.

She also mentioned about her great craze for footwear. 

"The shops coming up in Janpath, allotted to refugees from Pakistan who had initially spread out their wares on the floor of the corridors of Connaught Place, provided me a reprieve from the sturdiness of the two Bs - Bata and Baluja! Those small shops sold eye-catching, flat leather sandals with straps in bright colours, at three rupees a pair," she wrote in the book.

From her monthly pocket money, which was Rs 5 then, she saved enough over a period to buy several pairs in various colours and simple designs.

Sheila Dikshit did her schooling from Convent of Jesus and Mary and then to Miranda House, one of the most prestigious colleges of Delhi University.

Sheila Dikshit died of a cardiac arrest at 3.55 pm on Saturday. Sheila Dikshit had served as Delhi's chief minister for three consecutive terms between 1998 and 2013. She was succeeded by Aam Aadmi Party's Arvind Kejriwal.

She started off as a reluctant politician, assisting her father-in-law, veteran Uttar Pradesh Congress leader Uma Shankar Dikshit, who was a minister in Indira Gandhi's cabinet.