I am posting this for my future reference. Also it my help passers by.

If you are using CentOS 6 (maybe others too). To reset the root password use the following steps:-

1. sudo service mysqld stop
2. sudo service mysqld startsos
3. mysql -u root
4. Now you will be at mysql prompt. Here type:-
   1. UPDATE mysql.user SET Password=PASSWORD(‘NewPassHere’) WHERE User=’root’;
   2. FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
   3. quit;
5. sudo service mysqld restart