The Hindu : New Delhi News : A trip down memory lane

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jun 03, 2006

New Delhi

New Delhi

A trip down memory lane

Mandira Nayar

Book relives important moments of Rashtrapati Bhavan in modern Indian history

RE-VISITING HISTORY: The President, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, releasing a book on Rashtrapati Bhavan titled `Mansion Nonpareil - Marvel on Raisina Hill' in New Delhi on Friday. Photo: V.V. Krishnan

NEW DELHI: Edwin Lutyens seems to have found a sympathiser in President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, another man who is famous for his design, but only in a different way. A devoted husband, Lutyens wrote regularly to his wife to tell her all about his work. An aspect about the architect who created the Estate -- that has ceased to be a symbol of colonial rule to become a landmark that Indians are proud of -- it was not the side of "Ned" that most people would expect Dr. Kalam to be familiar with, when he referred to it at the release of a book "Mansion Nonpareil -- Marvel on Raisina Hill" this Friday.

"The building which we are living and work in was started in 1917 and was ready in 1930. The architect wrote details about the work in letters to his wife. She was a fantastic lady. She never wrote back even once. I don't know, are all wives like that?" he asked, getting a huge laugh from the audience.

A question that could easily stump most of the scientific community in India and the world at large. The book release function, saw him in another role, relaxed and at home with his really close associates.

A coffee-table book that relives the important moments of the building in modern Indian history, it is a trip down memory lane. With pictures of past Presidents and unusual ones of the present President, the book is about the changes that the Estate has gone through in its 75 years.

"Rashtapati Bhavan is not a mansion. It has the soul of India. The book records history like Mahatma Gandhi's visit. It is an interaction of the past and the present and it will lead up to the future. We all have a responsibility to protect it. It is the peoples' mansion and they should own the building," he added.

Known for his easy going attitude and his direct way of functioning, Dr. Kalam takes being a host seriously. While most Heads of State interact with people informally, it takes a really down to earth President to actually hand out plates to unknown invitees and insist that they eat before him.

Thrusting a dark blue plate to a scribe, he refused to hold a plate till everyone in the small group had eaten. He then proceeded to fill his plate and quietly went over to the official photographer to give him an opportunity that most shutterbugs would have been excited to snap up.

A master a diplomacy, his answer to a scribe who asked about the Office of Profit Bill: "Eat the pakoras".

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