"I don't remember my birthday and I don't celebrate it," says Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

An unassuming Singh surprised accompanying reporters on board Prime Minister's special aircraft from London with this remark when asked how he planned to celebrate his birthday on September 26.

Becoming sentimental, the Oxford-Cambridge educated Singh said he had lost his mother at an early age. He explained that September 26 was the date shown in his school records.

Born in Gah in Peshawar in 1932, Singh, son of a fruit merchant, shot into prominence after he introduced liberalisation and was instrumental in steering India's economy from the pits of a severe balance of payments crisis.

His key aides say a cake will be cut on board the special aircraft 'Tanjore' when Singh will be flying to Geneva on his way home.

The mild mannered and soft-spoken 71-year prime minister made it a point to intermingle with the 35-strong media contingent giving insights to his government's approach on several important issues.

He caught a woman scribe offguard saying she had asked a 'naughty' question at the joint press conference he addressed with British Prime Minister Tony Blair earlier in London before leaving for New York.

The prime minister was asked by the reporter to share his thoughts, standing next to Blair, on recent remarks made by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan that the war on Iraq was 'illegal'.

Singh, who will be meeting Annan during his week-long stay here, deftly handled the question, saying: "Our views on this are well known. It is important to look to the future interest of the past."

The Indian journos got a pleasant surprise at the Washington Mayfair Hotel in London when they saw a familiar figure emerging from a swanky car and entering the hotel lobby. It was cine star Hrithik Roshan.

Thinking that the scribes were hunting for his autographs, the Kaho Na.. star quietly slid into the lift with a smile and wave.