It was made clear by the president that he would pay — not only for the transport of all his relatives to and from Delhi, and also within Delhi, he would also pay for the various rooms occupied by them at Rashtrapati Bhavan and the food that was consumed by them — the rooms at the prescribed rate, the food on the basis of expenses actually incurred.

When his relatives left after a week’s stay, the president was of course sad to see them all go, but he was also lighter in his pocket: the total expenses debited to his personal account was Rs 3,54,924! As we practising lawyers often say in court “the facts speak for themselves”: President Kalam has set a high benchmark of rectitude in public office — worthy of emulation. And as a living embodiment

of ‘Transparency-National’, his parting words of advice were: “Don’t accept gifts.” Delicately put: what he meant to say of course was: “Don’t accept gifts for favours in return.”

Yes, we will all miss him. Me, too. Although I had publicly criticised him for putting his signature on the Bihar Dissolution Proclamation, and for not insisting on a personal meeting with Aung San Suu Kyi during his presidential trip to Myanmar, in retrospect, these were but aberrations — small lapses — in a hugely successful presidency.

Of him it can be said, as Winston Churchill once said about his departed king: “He nothing common did, or mean, upon that memorable scene.” Memorable scenes are rarely re-enacted, but they are always remembered.

... contd.