Hugger, Blessing Seeker & Baby Kisser
Hugging is essentially a man-to-man affair in politics. Male hugger politicians are not popular with women, the only exception being film stars.

Here, the politician alights from his campaign vehicle and quickly scouts the crowd gathered around. He picks out the two most familiar-looking faces around him, who are not his political aides or supporters, and quickly puts his arms around their two sets of shoulders with a smile.

Former prime minister and Janata Dal stalwart H D Deve Gowda, for example, had a good eye for a farmer in baggy shorts or soiled dhoti, especially when there were photographers around.

The baby kisser seeks to touch the hearts of the women. Mind you, such a politician never actually kisses the children, unlike in the US. In India, the baby kisser pulls kids on to his lap with a standard 'Tumhara naam kya hai, beta? (What's your name son?)'

This approach works quite well if the politician is also a film star, like Anant Nag or Govinda, or is a grandfatherly sort, like former Union railway minister C K Jaffer Sharief.

The idea behind this is that any child singled out for this kind of attention will make sure that its whole family votes for that particular politician.

A variation of this is baby naming, a tradition popular mostly in Tamil Nadu. Here, the more babies you name, the greater a politician you are. You must, of course, give the baby the name of a great Tamil philosopher, saint or god. Most often, the baby is never actually called by that name again!

The blessing seeker is an offshoot of the baby kisser. He runs a practiced eye over the crowd and quickly identifies an old man or woman on its fringes. Alternately, he could arrange for his supporters to keep one handy for him every time.

Once he has spotted his elder citizen, he looks emotionally at him or her, says Ajja/Dadaji/Thaatha in a choked, emotional voice, and makes a beeline for that person through the middle of the crowd.

Before the startled elder can recover his or her composure, his feet have been touched, his bony shoulders squeezed in a one-armed hug and his blessing taken.