APJ Abdul Kalam

It was meant to be a celebration of excellence in journalism. The Ramnath Goenka award ceremony was a gathering of the country's power elite: top politicians, captains of industry, cerebral editors, page three shakers and the humble pen and mike pushers. The editors and proprietors were debating the eternal dilemmas of journalism: the relationship between journalistic excellence and business success. That's when President APJ Abdul Kalam intervened and spoke of the urgent need for the media to nation-build. Nothing profound, but said with a simplicity of intent. Then, even before the editors could respond, the President came up and sat cross-legged on the edge of the stage as a stunned audience watched. The president of India was literally sitting at the feet of the country's media denizens.


The next morning as the photo was splashed in the newspapers, my ten year old daughter looked at me quizzically, "Why is the president kneeling in front of you" Isn't he the president of the country"" In her question was a mix of awe and wonderment. It was also a reminder of just how Kalam had changed the presidency, and just why he will be missed when his term ends next week.

In this aspirational age, President Kalam is more than just another middle class hero: he symbolizes the hopes and ambitions of an emerging India, a new age guru for a new India.

Nor is Kalam a khadi-clad hermit in an ashram, but rather uniquely someone who has the hairstyle of a rock star and the mind of a scientist, making him as attractive to new India as he is to the old. That he isn't simply some professional seminarist preaching rural development in a vacuum, but is a tech-savvy individual who has his own website makes him someone who can bridge the generational divide that is seen to burden a country still coming to terms with modernity.


Indeed, it's the very eccentricities of Kalam that have been his strength, imbuing the office of the presidency with a human touch that has been missing in the past. Dr Rajendra Prasad carried the legacy of a freedom fighter; Dr S Radhakrishnan and Zakir Hussain the weight of academia. In Kalam's India, it became about the novelty and excitement of a herbal garden, of flying a Sukhoi, of being in submarine or sharing a meal with jawans in Siachen.

In the end, Kalam's real charm perhaps lay in the fact that he seemed impatient with the conventions of high office. Undoubtedly, in his own race to Raisina, he may have played the power game. Some have even accused him of being a great pretender. But the fact is that once he was president, Kalam seemed to not give a hang about power and pelf. No adoring family hung about him, he wore the same shabby bandgala to every function, the superbly eccentric hairstyle remained constant , as did the bright-eyed urgent and detailed expositions about this or that highly important welfare scheme that had caught his attention.Which is why, as Pratibha Patil gets ready to take over as President, she has a hard act to follow. Will she sit cross legged on the ground, like her predecessor, and dive into a lively debate on journalistic ethics"


(This article first appeared in Hindustan Times)