Prez Kalam attends all-religion prayer

New Delhi, Oct 2: President APJ Abdul Kalam today joined diplomats, politicians and students for an all-religion prayer meeting and beat a giant peace drum to celebrate the 137th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi at his place of martyrdom.

The drum, called the World Peace Gong, was gifted to the Gandhi Smriti last month by the Multi-Cultural Society of Indonesia and the World Peace Gong Committee to mark the 100 years of the satyagraha movement launched by Gandhiji in South Africa.

With national flags of UN member-countries and symbols of world religions emblazoned, the drum is kept in the Gandhi Smriti premises.

Singing quartet Sharma Bandhu sang bhajans while 400 students from different city schools offered a musical tribute to Gandhiji at the Martyr's Column, the place where he fell to the bullets of his assassins more than 58 years ago.

Dr Kalam, who mingled with the children, urged them to translate their dreams into reality. ''He asked us to sing a poem about dreams,'' said Oshi of Little Flower School, Shahdra.

Gandhiji's grand-daughter Tara Gandhi, the vice-chairperson of Gandhi Smriti, faced a friendly mob of school children who wanted her autograph.

''This year's birth anniversary is also about celebrating the ideals espoused in the satyagraha and the charkha,'' said Tara Gandhi, for whom the sound of the peace drum is ''like silence''.

Among those who attended the prayer meeting were Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil and Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit.

UNI

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