Knowing Mr Modi
A nation obsessed with its new Prime Minister watched closely, and sometimes nervously, to separate the man from the myth, the sizzle from the substance, and figure out if he's a fantasy figure, a charismatic saviour or the smartest guy ever to become India's PM.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi takes home about Rs 19 lakh a year, exactly what US President Barack Obama gets paid a month. That makes PM Modi 11th on the salary rankings of the global high and mighty. But Chinese President Xi Jinping earns even less (Rs 14 lakh a year). Also, our PM is ranked a step below the President of Brazil, Dilma Rousseff, who carries home about Rs 75 lakh a year.
Despite earning less than many of his contemporaries, PM Modi is clearly a workaholic. He spends about 140, out of 168 hours in a week, working. By his own admission, the PM sleeps "just three-and-a-half or four hours" a night, being up by 4.30-5 a.m., calling for files or bureaucrats by 7.30 a.m. In comparison, Obama, who usually gets six hours of shut-eye, works less. That also makes PM Modi a more hardworking chief than Marissa Mayer, the Yahoo CEO, who famously works as many as 130 hours a week. He could be compared to Indra Nooyi, the PepsiCo chairman and CEO, who also sleeps a meagre four hours a night. But then, Nooyi has two daughters and a husband, Modi doesn't.
