Two years ago, India's septuagenarian prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee looked set to hobble off the political stage on arthritic knees, his mental faculties a topic of open speculation.
Subject of an unflattering Time magazine article headlined "Asleep at the Wheel" which described him as "fading in mind and spirit and an unlikely first choice to control a nuclear arsenal," the only question in Indian politics seemed to be not whether he would retire but when.
But now, Vajpayee, seen as the avuncular, moderate face of his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), is being hailed as Asia's elder statesman and shows no sign of retiring.
After spearheading peace moves with Pakistan -- and two knee replacement operations -- he is gearing up to lead the BJP-led coalition into elections in April or May which opinion polls suggest it will win massively.
"Whoever said there is no second chance in life forgot to tell that to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee," gushed leading news magazine India Today.
For Vajpayee, 79, the question may well be how long he wishes to stay as prime minister, concluded the magazine which last week published a poll showing that 55 percent of voters judged his performance good or outstanding.
BJP officials say there is no reason why Vajpayee should not serve another five-year term.
Vajpayee, a portly bachelor with a fondness for writing and reciting his own verse, has staged a spectacular phoenix-like resurgence after commentators were dotting the i's and crossing the t's on his political obituary.
"Whenever the media have written him off, he bounces back, stronger than ever," said Vir Sanghvi, editor of the Hindustan Times.
His political resurrection comes as the economy heads to new highs, helped by a bountiful monsoon that has generated a "feel-good factor" in India where 70 percent of the billion-plus population depends on agriculture for a living.
The government is predicting a growth rate of over 7.5 percent this year, putting India among the world's fastest growing economies.
The stock market soared by 74 percent last year. Mobile phone sales have zoomed to two million a month, making India one of the top mobile phone markets, and car sales were up in January by 30 percent over the same period last year.
"He has presided over an economic revolution that is not entirely of his creation -- it had a lot to do with very good monsoon rains," said former Times of India editor Inder Malhotra.
Vajpayee is renowned in India as a consensus builder, walking a tightrope between the extremist and moderate factions of his fractious multi-party coalition since 1999.
There have been dark moments during his four-and-a-half years in the top job. In 2002 some 2,000 people, mostly Muslims, died in Gujarat in a vengeful orgy after 59 Hindus were killed on a train torched by a Muslim mob.
However, his fans say he has penned in -- at least temporarily -- the fanatical elements of the BJP.
During the same year, the world held its breath as India massed its troops on the border with Pakistan after a deadly guerrilla raid on parliament. India blamed the attack on Pakistan-based Muslim militants seeking to wrest Kashmir from Indian control.
Pursuing a high-stakes brand of nuclear diplomacy, Vajpayee was widely seen in India as having cannily manuevered the international community to pressure Pakistan to promise not to permit rebels to use its soil to attack Indian targets.
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