Akhilesh Yadav, set to become Uttar Pradesh's youngest chief minister, once loved idlis, vadas and dosas – and may still speak a line or two in Kannada.
He studied for four years in Mysore, 130 km from Bengaluru, from 1990 for his civil environmental engineering degree at the Sri Jayachamarajendra College of Engineering.
Media reports in Karnataka suggest he relished south Indian dishes, had picked up Kannada words, kept a low profile and few in the college knew he was the son of Mulayam Singh Yadav.
Akhilesh is a huge football lover too and once injured his nose while playing it.