It was an emotional farewell from Rashtrapati Bhavan to outgoing PM A.B. Vajpayee with President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam recounting the association between the two at Pokhran as he went on to quote from one of Vajpayee’s many poems.At a banquet hosted in the honour of the outgoing PM and his council of ministers, Kalam recited a couple of lines from Vajpayee’s poem Oonchaeen (Height) where the poet hopes that he is not placed so high that he cannot even embrace those who are his own.The lines, Kalam said, reminded him of the embrace and warmth he received from Vajpayee at Pokhran in 1998. The Rashtrapati Bhavan band even played the tunes of Oonchaeen and Do Chatushpadi as sung by Lata Mangeshkar.According to those who attended the banquet, Vajpayee made a poetic comment on his tenure at the helm. Comparing the chair of the Prime Minister with that Kabir’s chaadar, he said: ‘‘Kabir ke chaadar par hamne daag nahi aane diya. Aur agar pehle se koi daag tha to ussey bhi mita diya. (We did not let Kabir’s sheet be stained and if there was any stain on it earlier, we even erased them).’’Vajpayee thanked Kalam for the cooperation and recounted the time how Kalam was deep into research when he was contacted to contest the elections to Rashtrapati Bhavan. He expressed happiness that Kalam had accepted the request. Former PMs P.V. Narasimha Rao and I.K. Gujral were also present.Rashtrapati Bhavan is said to have laid out an elaborate menu for Vajpayee including tandoori prawns, which are counted among his favourites. While there were no malpuas, Vajpayee was served rasmalai, another of his favourites.
