The story behind why President Kalam sat on the floor while we sat on chairs

File photo of President Dr APJ Abdul Kalam addressing the nation on the eve of Independence Day on 14 August 2006 | Flickr/ India7 Network

Chief Guest Kalam, in front row, got involved in a debate on media ethics, got so animated, he hauled himself on to the stage & intervened, seated on the floor!

A fresh controversy has just been engineered, with allegations that journalists Barkha Dutt and Rajdeep Sardesai were impolite to late President APJ Kalam at the 2007 Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Awards in not offering him a seat, because of which he had to sit on the floor and talk.

I had talked about that “incident” in this tribute after Kalam’s passing, actually a wonderfully endearing moment that the ‘People’s President’ gifted us that evening. I should know as I was the host. Here is that tribute, with a detailed reference to that gesture by Kalam. There was never any controversy and this should also set all rumour-mongering to rest. And by the way, there was another equally endearing moment with him, once again involving us and Barkha, with me as the host again. So please read on:

I do not recall when I first met late Dr APJ Abdul Kalam. One early encounter was when I saw him standing outside Prime Minister I.K. Gujral’s room, waiting to get some files signed. Gujral later told me these were delayed promotion cases of some of his scientists, so he had brought them personally to cut through red tape. But I knew him well for at least 20 years and was among the so many touched by his kindness and warmth. I am listing my six most interesting memories of him.

I wrote two #NationalInterest pieces sharply critical of him. The first was on 28 April 2001, headlined Dr Kalam’s Banana Republic. The theme was, whenever the defence forces wanted new equipment, the DRDO, which Kalam then headed, said “humko yeh banana hai (we want to make it)”. But they would never manage to make it, and the forces would be left in the lurch. Just my luck that the very next day (Sunday), I shrank in fright as I saw Dr Kalam coming in walking from the other side of the track at South Delhi’s Siri Fort Sports Complex. He lived close by in a DRDO guest house at Asian Games Village and walked there often with one cop following him. I had nowhere to hide, and he stopped, looking me in the eye. Only to say how much he agreed with my piece and how he wished the government would take it seriously.

Chatting with him that evening, I realised that for someone so important, it was risky to walk with just one cop in a fairly isolated place, and that too at mostly fixed hours after sunset. He needed and deserved more protection. In a subsequent conversation I mentioned this to L.K. Advani, then the home minister, and he immediately increased his security. A few weeks later, as we again caught up walking towards each other from opposite directions, Kalam confronted me, mock admonishing me: “So I believe you are the one responsible for my freedom having been taken away!” He now had three cops with him.

I started stalking him for a ‘Walk The Talk’ interview when he moved into Rashtrapati Bhavan. He kept me waiting. At a Republic Day reception, as our turn came to greet him, he turned to my wife and asked if she still walked so fast, making a sprinter’s pumping motion with his elbows. And then he told her, “You are my walking partner, so come to Rashtrapati Bhavan, and we will walk. Then one day I will call your husband and we will walk and talk.” I had to wait until his term came to an end, but it was a wonderful conversation.

In 2005, he agreed to be the chief guest at an Indian Express event called ‘India Empowered’. This was the culmination of a series of articles contributed by prominent people from all walks of life on how to empower our people. The series had been endorsed by him, and he wrote the first article too (those articles were later published by Penguin in a book, ‘India Empowered’, which I edited).

NDTV was our media partner at the event and Barkha Dutt was moderating it. As is her wont, she started by asking Kalam a sharp question. Kalam firmly raised his finger, told her to sit down, and said he knew what to say and do, and didn’t need any help! Then he delighted the audience by asking them questions instead! Kalam was sharper at the media game than us journalists.

Another time, as chief guest at the Ramnath Goenka Awards, he surprised us – pleasantly – by staying on for the annual state of journalism debate rather than leaving after giving his speech and the awards. Barkha and Rajdeep Sardesai were moderating it. He got involved in the debate, on media ethics, from the front row. And then he got so animated, he hauled himself on to the stage and carried on arguing and intervening, seated on the floor! Barkha still has that picture, and I am posting it here!

Dr APJ Abdul Kalam sitting on the floor (left), Rajdeep Sardesai (centre), and Barkha Dutt (right)

My second #NationalInterest to question him came when he was nominated as a presidential candidate. It pretty much questioned his credentials for the job. Here is the article. On the day it was published, I was in Mumbai and got a call early morning from Brajesh Mishra, who said Kalam was deeply upset about my article and would like to see me at his office, then in New Delhi’s Vigyan Bhavan. I walked in the following day, looking suitably guilty. But he never complained, gave me coffee, signed a copy of his book, said the most wonderful things to me, on how seriously he took me, respected me, etc., and even asked if I would join his Vision 2020 programme. I thanked him and politely declined, saying my Code of Ethics wouldn’t allow me to join a campaign. By the end of that meeting, I was totally disarmed, and in awe. This story found mention in much greater detail in the third #NationalInterest I wrote on him, when he demitted office as Rashtrapati.

This article was first published on 31 July 2015, in the week of Kalam’s passing away.