Far from the madding crowd of the national capital, Prime Minister Narendra Modi celebrated his 68th birthday with children of a primary school in the remote Naruar village of his parliamentary constituency Varanasi and told them about the virtues of hard work.

He also told the students never to be afraid to ask questions. “It is a key aspect of learning,” he said.

Modi also said students must give importance to sports and also learn various skills as it would help them forever.

“How many of you know cycling?” the PM asked and as some raised their hands, Modi said, “While trying to learn cycling, you must have fallen several times but you did not lose heart. You picked up the cycle and tried again and ultimately you learnt the art. Similarly, in life, you will face challenges. Face them and you will conquer them one day,” Modi told the young minds.

The PM advised, “Work so hard that you perspire at least four times a day. Only hard work will ensure success in life.”

On Monday evening, Modi touched down at Varanasi and immediately went for an interaction with the children of the primary school at Naruar, a village dominated by backward community members.

The PM informally chatted with the students and asked them about the importance of Vishwakarma Puja. As he was being taken to the ‘Smart’ section of the school, the students were memorising the age-old poem ‘Machchhali jal ki raani hai…’. Modi stopped at the courtyard and interacted with the students during which Class V student Chandan Vishwakarma narrated a story of a lion and a rat.

The PM enquired about the school and the interests of the students. Some students even asked the PM to visit their villages, to which Modi smiled and said, “Phir aonga (I will come next time).”

The school was selected out of 580 primary schools of Varanasi primarily because of its proximity to the city and dominance of backward class members in the village.

Later, the PM reached Diesel Loco Workshop (DLW) where he was welcomed by a section of Asha and Anganbadi workers. The PM spoke to them and praised their roles in making health and education programmes successful.

The PM also interacted with 70 rag pickers, who are being imparted education by a section of faculty members of Mahatma Gandhi Kashi Vidyapeeth (MGKV) during spare time.

The PM asked them about the hardships they had faced and the changes in their lives after joining the school.

Modi will lay the foundation stones of various projects and inaugurate several projects worth Rs 557 crore on Tuesday.

He is also scheduled to address a meeting at the amphitheatre on the campus of Banaras Hindu University (BHU).

In BHU, the PM will inaugurate the Babatpur-Shivpur four-lane road, the first phase of Ring Road project and many others beside laying the foundation stones of Regional Institute of Ophthalmology (Rs 38.58 crore), Centre for Vedic Science of BHU (Rs 14.10 crore) and 132 KV power sub-station at Cholapur (Rs 23.08 crore). Besides, he will also inaugurate Atal Incubation Centre (AIC) at BHU, awarded by NITI Aayog.

Earlier, on his arrival at Lal Bahadur Shastri International Airport at Babatpur, the PM was welcomed by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, senior leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party, officials and some dignitaries.

Elaborate security arrangements were made at all the places where the PM went on Monday during his two-day visit.

Meanwhile, Varanasi celebrated the birthday of Modi in a grand style as compared to the last four years after he became the PM.

In the evening, the holy city was lighted with thousands of lamps as BJP workers decorated 68 places, it being Modi’s 68th birthday.

To exhibit its secular image, party workers celebrated Modi’s birthday at Chandra Shekhar Azad Park at Lahurabir along with a group of Muslim women and visited various slums where they carried out cleanliness drive and distributed sweets to woo the Dalits. The party workers also organised a ‘yagna’ and ‘havan’.

At Panini Kanya Mahavidyalaya at Mehmoorganj, girls performed ‘yagna’ for the long life of Modi while the activists of Bhartiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) organised havan-pujan at Goenka Vidyalaya at Assi.