I was not really happy with the selection of Pratibha Patil as the presidential candidate. The usual reasons, career politician, nothing much achieved with a hint of nepotism..not really the stuff legends are made of, especially given Kalam's CV.
But, i had the opportunity to witness the arrival of the President in Bhopal and i must say that despite the municpal efforts to clean the city, the visit itself was quite underwhelming. Thus, you realise, getting a common person to become the president is probably just what is needed to deglamourise the office which by all accounts is mostly explained as rubber stamping