By IANS
New Delhi : President Pratibha Patil wants to do everything in a unique way, but quietly. On her first birthday in Rashtrapati Bhavan, the president will spend time with the mentally differently abled children and the destitute.
Patil, who is celebrating her 73rd birthday Wednesday, is scheduled to visit Asha Kiran, home for the mentally differently abled in Rohini at 12.20 p.m. to spend time with the inmates there. She will also be visiting the Missionaries of Charity institute Nirmal Hriday, a home for destitute at 1.10 p.m.
A lot of dignitaries, including Vice-President Hamid Ansari and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, will visit the president to greet her on the day, said sources in Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Patil, who took charge in the country’s highest constitutional post in July this year, succeeding an extremely popular A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, has suggested that there could be a “nakshatra van” – a garden of 27 trees linked to celestial patterns – along with the Herbal Garden and Spiritual Garden planted by Kalam. Each of the 27 nakshatras – the constellation in which the moon was placed at the time of one’s birth – will be associated with a specific tree.
“Her idea was that the visitors will be able to go to the plant that is linked to their own zodiac sign and take photos,” an official in Rashtrapati Bhavan said.
The first tree will be planted Wednesday on her birthday.
“Ours is a caring president. She wants Rashtrapati Bhavan to be closer to the people. She believes that it is a people’s institution,” the president’s Secretary Christi Fernandes said.
The president wanted that more and more Indians should see the spectacular change of guard ceremony, she asked her staff to open up more rooms in the 350-roomed presidential palace to the public and the first woman president also wants more budding artists to be given opportunity to perform in its auditorium… the list goes on.
Patil has taken initiatives to present the impressive change of guard ceremony in a re-invented form to the general public on all Saturdays. Rashtrapati Bhavan, which is open for media only during functions, held an unusual press conference – the first of its kind according to Fernandes – to announce the introduction of the re-packaged ceremony.
According to Fernandes, the reinvention of the change of guard ceremony was one of the first steps she has taken to make people friendly with the palace, which had long been inaccessible for general public.
“The president wants to open up more rooms of Rashtrapati Bhavan for the public for a better viewing. She wants all the areas except the core areas to be open for them,” Fernandes said.
“However, we have not decided which are the areas that should be opened. A committee will decide on it,” he told IANS.
Patil’s predecessor Kalam was known as a man of change. From modernising Rashtrapati Bhavan’s 75-year-old kitchen, renovating the Ashoka Hall, introducing new uniforms and high-tech training for his butlers and adopting pets, he had made his mark in many things.