President plays holi with children, PM has quiet day

New Delhi, Mar 4 (UNI) President A P J Abdul Kalam today played Holi with over 100 children -- some of them specially-abled, orphaned or suffering from thalassaemia -- from Delhi and surrounding areas.

The children performed a Holi dance and sang songs from various films, a Rashtrapati Bhavan spokesman said.

Dr Kalam gave them greeting cards which had pictures of flowers in red and blue and a poem penned by him: ''We blossomed together, To give you fragrance on this beautiful Holi Day.'' He advised the children to do five things on this day: give flowers to a person recovering from illness in their neighbourhood, visit a hospital and give sweets to patients, help a visually challenged person to cross the road or listen to his or her problem, call or talk to a relative or a friend whom they have not talked to for a long time and take a decision to always smile from now onwards.

A spokesman in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) said Dr Singh did not play Holi today. He did not assign any reason. An official, however, said the Prime Minister had a Holi milan last evening at his residence at 7 Race Course Road when he was greeted by Ministers and top officials.

UNI