Neither the couplets of Thirukkural like P Chidambaram nor his own poems like Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh banked on good old proverbs and sayings to lace his response to varied questions put forth by journalists at his press conference.
"The proof of the pudding lies in the eating. I should not be judged by what Advani says but by my actions and my work," he said twice when asked about the Leader of Opposition's references to him as the "weakest Prime Minister".
"Rome was not built in a day," he said when asked about the fiscal position vis-à-vis the announcements being made by the government, involving huge financial resources.
"We can choose our friends but not our neighbours," the prime minister said when asked about Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf's statements.
Contrary to his image as a very serious person, the prime minister had the entire national media in splits not once but on several occasions during the press conference.
"I have done nothing to deserve all those epithets", he said to peals of laughter when asked about Advani's repeated references to him as the 'weakest Prime Minister'.
Journalists had a good laugh when Dr Singh reminded the senior BJP leader of his controversial statement on Jinnah while in Pakistan, the RSS response to it and his stepping down as party chief.
He didn't stop there.
"I now know who wrote the Teflon story," Dr Singh told a journalist from a business daily when she asked him about his Teflon image despite many controversies surrounding the UPA Government.
He, however, said he did not agree with that as he took 'full responsibilities' for UPA Government's decisions and 'I am not running away from that'.
When asked whether he planned to come to the Lok Sabha as an elected representative, he said, "I did not have time to think about it, but you have set me thinking".
When reminded that he had given six out of 10 marks to his government and asked how he rated its performance now, the Prime Minister said, "I was harshly criticised by our own colleagues. This time I will be wiser. It will be for you to judge."
A stickler for time, Singh arrived sharp at 1700 hours and ended the press conference at 1830 hours -- ninety minutes as promised by Media Adviser Sanjay Baru.
"One at a time," he told several journalists as they sought to ask more than one question in one go.
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