New Delhi, May 15 -- At a BJP organisational meeting in Madhya Pradesh in the late 1990s, Narendra Modi - then the party's election in charge for the state - asked workers how many had email IDs. Most had no idea what email was. Senior leader Babulal Gaur misheard the word entirely, asking what this "female" thing was and why they needed it. Modi quietly explained that the future of governance, communication and political organisation would run on technology. Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who was present that day as State General Secretary, recalls it as the moment he first understood how far ahead Modi was thinking - at a time when email was alien even to senior politicians, Modi was already building a digital organisational backbone for the party. Chouhan shared the anecdote while announcing his new book "Apnapan: My Experiences with Narendra Modi" on Thursday, which chronicles his 35-year association with the Prime Minister through moments of political drama and personal interactions. The book will be launched on May 26 at the NASC Complex, Pusa, New Delhi, in the presence of former Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu and ex-PM HD Deve Gowda. The book opens with the 1991 Ekta Yatra, led by then BJP national president Murli Manohar Joshi from Kanyakumari to Srinagar, with terrorism at its peak in Kashmir and no one imagining the tricolour could be hoisted at Lal Chowk. Modi was chosen to organise and lead the effort on the ground. Both Joshi and Modi were flown to Kashmir by helicopter due to severe security threats. The tricolour was hoisted at Lal Chowk on Republic Day. Chouhan says Modi transformed what many saw as a political exercise into a movement of national consciousness. Chouhan also writes about the long-running Narmada water dispute between Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh - a crisis that had dragged on for years - and how Modi resolved it through direct dialogue and political will when he became Gujarat chief minister, a lesson Chouhan said shaped his own approach to governance. Chouhan said 'Apnapan' would especially inspire young people - the message being that transforming a nation needs not a high position, but resolve, discipline and a genuine connection with the people....