Kalam celebrates his 76th birthday with tribals

B R Hills (Karnataka), Oct 15: President A P J Abdul Kalam today celebrated his 76th birthday in a unique way with the tribals of Vivekananda Girijana Kalyana Kendra in this picturesque hill range situated in the backward Chamarajanagar District of Karnataka.

Even as the President arrived at the Kendra to attend the function to mark the Silver Jubilee year of existence, the tribal children greeted him in Kannada, Tamil and English.

A visibly happy Mr Kalam received the greetings from the children who sang ''Huttuhabbada Shubhashayagalu'' in Kannada, ''Nall Vazthukal'' in Tamil and ''Happy Birthday to you our beloved President'' in English.

The students also presented Mr Kalam with a bouquet and a tabloid sized white greeting card on which they wrote in green ink, ''We wish you a very happy 76th birthday our loving President Dr Abdul Kalamji''.

Karnataka Governor T N Chaturvedi, Deputy Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa, who were present, also greeted the President on his birthday. Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy sent the greetings through the District Incharge Minister D T Jayakumar.

After becoming the President, Mr Kalam had celebrated all his birthdays outside New Delhi. Incidentally, on this day last year he was amidst poor students at Suttur Math in the neighbouring Mysore district.

The President came to the tribal centre after alighting from the helicopter at the downhill Gudihalli and took a 30 minute drive to the tribal centre on top of the B R Hills. He keenly watched the thick foliage surrounding the B R Hills and asked the officials accompanying him whether they had ensured that the forest cover had increased in the area.

He visited the 20-bed hospital run by the Kendra and also inaugurated the Nursing College for tribals. He spoke to the 'tribal citizens', as he called them, for some time and also keenly examined various products produced by the tribals at the vocational centre.

UNI

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