Liz Mathew
IANS
New Delhi : As he prepares to vacate Rashtrapati Bhavan next month, President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam will leave behind his distinctive stamp in the way he has brought in innovations and changed the style of functioning of the presidential palace – something which none of his predecessors had done.
With an eye for detail and a penchant for the uncommon, there were very few things in the palatial presidential house and its surroundings that escaped his notice during the last five years.
From modernising Rashtrapati Bhavan's 75-year-old kitchen, renovating the Ashoka Hall, introducing new uniforms, high-tech training for his butlers and adopting pets – the bachelor Kalam was a man of change.
It was Kalam's intervention that led to the replacement of age-old cooking gadgets in the kitchen with modern amenities, including a new bakery.
"The entire atmosphere in Rashtrapati Bhavan has changed since he took charge. He wanted an element of freshness and change in everything," a presidential staff member, who did not want to be identified because of government rules, told IANS.
Kalam, 75, had issued instructions that the staff should learn and observe correct Western etiquette in dealing with dignitaries visiting Rashtrapati Bhavan. He had sent some of his butlers and cooks to Leela Palace Hotel in Mumbai to train under former Buckingham Palace chief butler Stephan Hurst.
The fading Persian paintings and other artefacts in the Ashoka Hall, the venue for official ceremonies including oath-taking of the prime minister and his cabinet, was renovated under his direction.
Kalam also introduced a herbal and a "spiritual" garden to Rashtrapati Bhavan's sprawling Mughal Gardens, which attracts thousands of visitors every year. It was Kalam who insisted that visitors to the garden should be provided drinking water and snacks.
He had also introduced a kitchen museum – where all the old vessels and plates lying in the cellars of Rashtrapati Bhavan were displayed – and a children's museum to exhibit the gifts he had received from children from across the world.
The staff at Rashtrapati Bhavan will always remember the technocrat president's soft corner for handicapped animals and how he went out of his way to help them.
The animals he helped include a two-year-old fawn, named Tippu, which was treated by the presidential palace veterinary doctors to correct a defect in its foot. Tippu was from the deer enclosure in the presidential estate and had been rejected by its mother. Kalam asked his staff to adopt it.
A Hanoverian horse from the 61st Cavalry, the only cavalry division in the Indian Army, and a hippopotamus belonging to a circus company underwent cataract surgery from veterinary specialists in the palace, thanks to Kalam's intervention.
A staff member narrated how once Kalam took the initiative to get a peacock treated for a broken leg.
"His love for nature and birds is amazing. The president makes it a point to feed the birds in the garden whenever he is here. He replaced the wooden windows of his room that open to the garden with glass ones to get a clear view," said another staff member at the presidential palace.
"But, most importantly, he was a nice human being. He always treated us like his own people. We are government staff and will continue to do our duties irrespective of who heads the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
"But we will certainly miss him," said the staffer.
(Liz Mathew can be contacted [email protected])