Dreaming big

Dreaming big

On an extensive tour of Rashtrapati Bhawan, Pranab Mukherjee stumbled upon a large conference room on the first floor with table and chairs. This was used as the Cabinet room by the Viceroys. The room has been non functional for over half-a-century. Mukherjee reportedly has plans for the Cabinet room. Signs of Mukherjee's activism as President are already visible. He has put Rashtrapati Bhawan on Facebook and also plans to post all his speeches on YouTube. The website of the President of India has been re-designed and the profile of Mukherjee gives him credit for conceiving numerous flagship government programmes. (In Congress culture, credit for such programmes is usually reserved only for the party's first family.) There is also a slot on the website for redressing grievances. After taking over, Mukherjee has had informal session with Bengali journalists and another with 100-odd members of the Capital's media. He held a private dinner for Sonia Gandhi and her family at Rashtrapati Bhawan and plans to follow it up with similar one-on-one interactions with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Speaker of the Lok Sabha Meira Kumar and Leaders of the Opposition, Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley.

Re-doing the kitchen

Pranab Mukherjee is living in the guest house of Rashtrapati Bhawan while he waits for the former Viceroy's palace to be renovated. Though he wants to live modestly, Mukherjee plans an overhaul of the old-fashioned building, starting with the huge kitchens which are infested with cockroaches and rats. A renovated kitchen is the best way to improve the quality of the food, about which there are numerous complaints. Another area of interest is the guest bedrooms for state visitors. For the past few years, state guests have been accommodated at five-star hotels rather than in Rashtrapati Bhawan. Mukherjee wants to raise the comfort level of the historic building so that visiting heads of state can stay here as was the practice in the past.

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