– Indian President chats away to kids!

This is indeed a novel idea… of chat with the Indian Prez.. and the kids in India!

When President A P J Abdul Kalam consented to appear on the Rediff Chat on November 14, 2005 — which also flagged off rediff.com’s 10th anniversary celebrations — he was only taking forward what he had initiated when he moved into Rashtrapati Bhavan in July 2002: Meeting young Indians from all walks of life, and exchanging ideas with them.
rediff thus was the perfect vehicle: given its phenomenal reach especially among Young India, the President cut across geographical barriers. The Internet as a medium reflected his passion for science and technology.

But, as always, it is all in the details. And the nitty-gritty of the chat’s actual execution was taken care of by the President’s Office.

His knowledgeable Press Advisor S M Khan suggested that selected questions be submitted beforehand, giving the President enough time to have his responses ready. This way, he could answer many more questions than are done in a regular 45-minute Internet chat. Thank you, Mr Khan, for the idea.

Rashtrapati Bhavan’s technology anchorperson V Ponraj suggested posting the President’s replies via three computers, instead of the usual one. The three monitors were plugged into large, flat-screen monitors, which enabled the President to see both the question and the answer before they were posted, and to amend his reply if he felt the need to do so. Thank you, Mr Ponraj, for the idea.

Thanks to Mr Khan and Mr Ponraj, President Kalam, in the 75 minutes he spent on the rediff Chat — as against the promised 45 minutes — responded to an awesome 63 questions, but there were others from the President’s Office as well to who we owe a note of thanks: his OSD, Major General Swaminathan (retd); Nitin Wakankar; Sheridon; Radhakrishnan; S G Sharma and Raj Kumar.

Given the President’s infectious enthusiasm he could have gone on for longer but for understandable constraints on his time.

For those from rediff privileged to be present in Rashtrapati Bhavan during the Chat, it was a moment that brought home the President’s amazing grace, his endearing humility and his acute attention to detail.

This President stands less on pageantry, and even less on protocol, as can be seen from this incident: As the questions were being posted, he would turn to one and ask, ‘How many have you posted?’ ‘Ten sir.’ ‘And you?’ ‘Eleven sir.’ ‘Very slow, very slow,’ he would gently chide, with a charming smile, urging everyone to make the most of the time available.

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Here are the Questions for the Indian President! Go here if you wanna post!