President takes a trip down the vintage track

NEW DELHI: Hidden from public view, at New Delhi Railway Station''s warehouse, is stationed the coach of the first citizen of India. Unused for decades, the saloon will once again be part of the fanfare that accompanies a Presidential trip.
President A P J Kalam will undertake a two-hour journey from Patna to Harnot at the end of the month to inaugurate a railway depot there, said Railway officials.
Built in 1956, Dr Rajendra Prasad was the first President to travel in the coach from New Delhi to Kurukshetra. Only three other Presidents - Dr Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan, Dr Zakir Husain and V V Giri in 1974 - have travelled in it.
The coach is elegantly furnished with cream colour tussar silk curtains, teak wood furniture and cabinets. A vintage Philips radio with amplifiers (a luxury in 1956) has been maintained and is still in perfect working condition.
The panels, pelmets and study table and doors are carved with the insignia of Asoka.
"All the Emblems have been carved by the employees of the Railways. Even the solitary painting that adorns the President''s main bedroom has been done by S P Naik, former senior section engineer (trimming)," said a maintenance staffer.
"All the electronic items - watches, air-conditioners and radio - are still work as well as the day they were installed," said another worker.
The pantry has cutlery - egg-cups, a butter pot, salt-shaker (bowl shaped) - with electro plated nickel silver. "The cutlery was imported from England. Instead of a blender, the kitchen has a churner and coffee percolator. There is an ice box and a refrigerator, made by the Glacier company of England.
The twin coach from the rear starts from the pantry and goes on to a mechanical store room for the staff, dining-cum-waiting room, doctor''s room, the secretary''s room, the defence secretary''s room, the President''s lounge room, the study, the main bedroom and the guest room.
Between the President''s room and the study is the bathroom with the best fittings that money could buy at the time.
There are six workers and two officers involved in the upkeep of the coach.