Sheila Dikshit: More like a friendly aunt

NEW DELHI: Affable, courteous and always smiling, Sheila Dikshit came across more as a friendly neighbourhood aunt than a quintessential haughty politician.

A chirpy Miranda House girl who loved car rides married into a political family and her fortunes changed forever. Daughter-in-law of Uttar Pradesh leader Uma Shankar Dikshit, she was first noticed by the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, and later became a "family" loyalist after she worked closely with Rajiv Gandhi.

Born in Punjab, raised in Delhi and honing her political skills in Uttar Pradesh, the national capital became her work space.

It has been six years since she was voted out of power but there is broad consensus -- even her political opponents will not disagree -- that she was the force behind the transformation of Delhi.