The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : The day when Kalam came a-calling

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Dec 16, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

The day when Kalam came a-calling

Staff Reporter

Educationist Mrs. YGP recalls President Kalam's visit

MAKES A POINT: Mrs. Y.G. Parthasarathy with President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam when he visited her home on December 1.

CHENNAI: It's been two weeks since he visited, but she is still all excitement, recalling every moment of the meeting. She couldn't have had a better birthday gift, she says.

Mrs. Y.G. Parthasarathy, Dean and Director of Padma Seshadri Group of Schools, could not believe her eyes when President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam walked into her home in T. Nagar here on December 1.

"We had written to the President inviting him for a function organised for my 80th birthday. He said he would come on December 1 and that he would like to visit me at home before the school visit," she says.

But it wasn't the title he holds or gifts he brought that impressed Mrs. YGP; it was his warmth and affection.

For the VVIP visit, "we prepared badam halwa, bisibela bath, thayir sadam and murukku. Officials tasted the food earlier," she says. "The President had some bisibele and murukku while enjoying a song by my daughter-in-law and granddaughter. . The President made us all feel so much at ease."

Apart from a beautifully packed basket of fruits, Mr. Kalam gave Mrs. YGP a chain made of the seeds of the lotus plant.

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