At the root of his work and vision is Manmohan Singh's self portrait of a student who went without electricity, walked a long way to school and made it on scholarships. Emphasising the importance of education in bridging the rural-urban gap, he said: "I am what I am because my family invested in my education".

Sonia at her candid best

Sonia Gandhi stole the show with her wit and candour. Recovering from a cold, she began by saying she'd sound "more like a crow than myself". Asked why she didn't travel abroad and then requested to visit Japan, she said that unlike Japan, a politician in India was required to be available. But on a more serious note, she added: "I'd love to visit Japan again. I will do my best to go there."

Connery the best

Unicef goodwill ambassador Roger Moore won the audience over with his first sentence: "I'll restrain myself from saying the name's not Bond." But despite his talk on salt iodination, Bond questions were inevitable. Asked who his favourite Bond was, he answered: "Sean Connery. He created the role."

Healthcare priorities

Empathising with the poor, the PM asked if India could "afford high-cost hospital-based curative models of medical care". Thinking aloud, he wondered if we were distorting healthcare priorities by encouraging new technologies that rely on public subsidy.

Family support for Cong chief

Congress MP Rahul Gandhi and brother-in-law Robert Vadra cheered Sonia as she fielded questions on the Volcker report. Her performance in the Q&A session won her all-around applause.