Kalam to leave Rashtrapati Bhawan with two small suitcases

New Delhi, July 19 (UNI) Outgoing President A P J Abdul Kalam today said he would leave Rashtrapati Bhavan after ''five glorious years'' with just two ''small suitcases.'' Besides the two suitcases, Dr Kalam said, he also had a huge collection of books which he would take with him.

These books were his own collections, the President said in an emotional address at the India Islamic Cultural Centre (IICC) here.

Dr Kalam, who had turned down requests for running for a second term in office, plans to teach at Anna University, Chennai, after demitting office on July 24.

''On the 25th I will leave Rashtrapati Bhavan after having spent five glorious years there. What I have got are two small suitcases. I will go with them,'' he said amid thunderous applause from the gathering.

In his address, the outgoing President appealed to countrymen not to accept gifts.

''It is like touching a snake and getting the poison in turn,'' he said.

Gift is a dangerous thing as it is always accompanied by some purpose, he said, quoting his father and recalling an incident that took place shortly after India's independence when Dr Kalam was a young boy.

Dr Kalam said he had been beaten up then by his father, Janab Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen, for letting some people leave a gift at their home following his election as Rameswaram Panchayat Board President.

''Yesterday, a well-known person gave me a gift of two pens. I had to return them with unhappiness,'' he said and sought to drove home his point, quoting from the ancient Hindu code of law 'Manusmriti', that by accepting gifts the divine light in the person gets extinguished.

''I am sharing this thought with all of you since no one should get carried away by any gift which comes with a purpose and through which one loses his personality greatly,'' Dr Kalam said.

The outgoing Presidet would be leaving behind at Rashtrapati Bhavan the gifts he received during his tenure. They would form part of an art gallery.

UNI