Vajpayee's 2nd death anniversary: Remembering the former PM who loved poetry, aspired to be a journalist

He went to college with his father: Vajpayee attended DAV College in Kanpur along with his father. They studied in the same class and lived in the same hostel. (Photo| EPS)

Dropped out of college: Vajpayee dropped out of his law college to run an RSS magazine in the early 1950s. His sister used to throw away his pants because his father was a government employee and did not want him to wear the RSS Khaki uniform. (Photo| EPS)

He wanted to become a journalist: Vajpayee in an interview said that he always wanted to become a journalist but ended up in politics. (Photo| PTI)

Won his first election in 1957: After the sudden death of Shyama Prasad Mookerjee before the elections, Vajpayee took the baton from him and won his first election to the Parliament in 1957. (Photo| EPS)

Elected to Lok Sabha ten times: Due to his intelligence and grounding in politics, Vajpayee was elected to the Lok Sabha for a record ten times and twice for Rajya Sabha. He was the most popular politician and the first ever non-Congress PM to serve a full term of five years in office. (Photo| EPS)

First Hindi speaker in UN General Assembly: Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the first External Affairs Minister and the first person to deliver a speech in Hindi in the United Nations General Assembly in 1977. (Photo| EPS)

Allowed testing of nuclear weapons: One of the key elements during his government was that he allowed the testing of nuclear weapons in 1998. Multiple nuclear tests were conducted during his tenure. (Photo| EPS)

Vajpayee started Delhi-Lahore bus service: He always wanted a peaceful alliance with Pakistan. To bring in full-scale diplomatic peace process, he inaugurated the historic Delhi-Lahore bus service in February 1999. (Photo| PTI)

His birthday is celebrated as 'Good Governance Day': Vajpayee's birthday which falls on 25th December has been declared as 'Good Governance Day' by the NDA government. (Photo| EPS)

His immense love for poetry: Vajpayee's passion was writing poems. He released two albums with Jagjit Singh featuring his popular poems: Nayi Disha (1999) and Samvedna (2002). (Photo| PTI)

Remained a bachelor throughout his life: Atal Bihari Vajpayee never married and remained a bachelor throughout his life. Although, he adopted a daughter - Namita. (Photo| PTI)