• And they would never see you as a political being anyway.

I don't know, but I felt they looked on me as a fellow with knowledge. 'This guy thinks differently' --   that's how they thought of me.

• So sometimes not being a politician can be useful.

Well, as president, my experience in these five years is that it's not a question of whether you are a politician or a non-politician. You should be a good human being, with logic, with knowledge.

• But you need to be politically aware.

Well, that took me only six months. After all, the Constitution of India is a good book that I could read. I was aware of the Constitution, so it didn't take me much time.

• And you must have come to know all the political figures as they came trooping into the Rashtrapati Bhavan?

It's a continuous process, and after some time, I felt I didn't have any disadvantage (in not coming from a political background).

• But five years of that experience . . .  has it also made you a bit of a politician ?

Well, I will say that when I entered the Rashtrapati Bhavan, I had a plan of action, a roadmap that India should become an economically developed nation. When after five years I return to my original mission, I feel that India has to become an economically developed nation and its people should have a value system. So you will have seen that, in the last few years, I was promoting a value system.

... contd.