Rahul Gandhi is out to prove two things to two different groups: to the public, that he is a committed politician rather than just a lucky young man born with a famous last name; to the Congress party, that he can lead the troops into battle.
That is quite a challenge for the scion of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty variously known as the crown prince of the Congress party, the prime-minister-in-waiting and, in society magazines, the country's most eligible bachelor.
As he toured the dusty villages of Orissa, in eastern India, last week - a region so poor that desperate mothers sell their babies for the price of a chicken curry - Mr Gandhi, 37, strove to connect with ordinary countrymen and convince them that he can make a difference to their lives.
For the first time outside an election campaign, he addressed rallies in the blistering heat, endured teeth-loosening rides on crater-pocked roads, sat on string cots to chat with poor farmers and dined in mud huts with impoverished labourers.
Congress has dubbed his tour 'Discovery of India', and hopes that the member of parliament from Amethi will come out of his shell, start pressing the flesh and winning hearts and minds. He is, after all, the party's future prime ministerial candidate.
Ever since Mr Gandhi was named general secretary of the party and put in charge of the youth and student wings last September, Congress leaders have been hoping he would shed his reticence and adopt a higher profile.
They want him to move around the country, meet people, make speeches, inject enthusiasm into an ageing party and fire up the country's youth.