A good day to be Narendra Modi

It was a good day to be Narendra Modi. On Saturday, he began the morning with Dilli Durbaris eating out of his hand, posing with one-time fierce critics for selfies, borrowing a camera from photographers, and remembering almost all journalists by name. He didn't take any questions and didn't give any answers, but it was enough to soothe the fevered brows of Delhi journalists who have felt alienated and excluded from the power network.

By the evening, the rich, powerful and famous were queueing up to shake his hand at the rededication of the Sir HN Reliance Hospital and Research Centre in Mumbai, not far, as Mukesh Ambani said, from Bhuleshwar, where papa (Dhirubhai Ambani) had started Reliance. So power packed was the audience that one of India's most successful businessmen, Anand Mahindra, was seated in the second row, as was one of India's most powerful women CEOs, Chanda Kochchar. And so keen was everyone to catch the Prime Minister's eye that within an hour, a picture of Kareena Kapoor Khan looking on, apparently in envy, at Kiran Rao who was introduced to Modi by husband Aamir Khan went viral on social media, with comments about how she felt upset at not being hailed by the Prime Minister.

As much as the talk in Delhi was about which journalists Modi looked through and whom he was warm to, there was talk in Mumbai of how long Modi shook hands with whom and what he said. Only DD and CNN-IBN were allowed to cover the event, but footage of it was examined in detail on social media in a matter of hours. Mukesh Ambani's gushing speech about how Modi has made India proud within five months, Modi's tweeting of Nita Ambani's speech, his own mention of Ganesha being a triumph of early plastic surgery and Kunti an example of the advance of genetic science, were being discussed, dissed, defended. Once again Modi had managed to colonise the frequencies, with little extra effort.

The assembled high and mighty didn't even seem to mind being treated like cattle class boarding an aircraft with the officious Paresh Rawal telling the high and mighty in the first three rows to remain seated as the Prime Minister left. Annu Malik, he of Indian Idol aag laga dala fame, didn't seem to hear, and followed Modi and the Ambani family into the hospital's ornate temple, to catch a moment with the Prime Minister. Modi played his part perfectly, seeking out Shatrughan Sinha's family in the second row, hailing Sunil Gavaskar, also in the second row, spending a warm few seconds with former Congress minister Murli Deora and wife, and spending a few extra seconds with Amitabh Bachchan and daughter in law Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Sachin and Anjali Tendulkar. If in the morning he was the media's humble friend, willing to forgive and forget, recalling only fond memories of his karyakarta past ''jab khul kar baatein hoti thi''; in Mumbai, he was the friendly and expansive pracharak, holding forth on the wonders of ancient Indian science, and the possibilities of modern India.

Is it a surprise that no one even mentions that Modi needs a media adviser any more?