President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam and sitar maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar at the inauguration of an art and crafts exhibition in New Delhi on Thursday. (PTI)

New Delhi, Feb. 17: When the children reached Mughal Gardens, they found a guide they never expected ? the President.

Just as the gardens, now in full bloom, opened to the public this morning, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam stepped out of Rashtrapati Bhavan and joined a group of schoolchildren.

For the next half-an-hour, Kalam ? known as ?the people?s President? for his regular interaction with commoners ? acted as their guide. The garden is in ?full bloom this season because of an extended winter?, said an official. Kalam has also helped set up a herbal garden beside the Mughal Gardens.

The Mughal Gardens, in the President?s Estate, is thrown open to the public every year in February-March, but what inspired Kalam today was the weekend crowd last Sunday.

Rashtrapati Bhavan officials said an unprecedented 45-50,000 visitors turned up. Nearly a hundred thousand people have visited the garden since it was opened to the public on February 11. The response prompted Kalam to reciprocate, sources said.

The sources said it is all the more special for Kalam because he had personally supervised preparations before the Mughal Gardens opened for public viewing. It was while he was overseeing arrangements on February 6 that he slipped and fractured his right shoulder.

Kalam underwent a non-surgical procedure the next day but was back at his official residence and in office only 24 hours after getting his shoulder fixed at the army?s research and referral hospital here.

Today?s public appearance outside Rashtrapati Bhavan was Kalam?s second since his injury. The other was a visit to Siri Fort auditorium, 10 km away, for a music concert by violin maestro L. Subramaniam on February 10.

The President attended two more functions outside Rashtrapati Bhavan this afternoon. He inaugurated an exhibition documenting Indian crafts at Dilli Haat in south Delhi. The other was an ?at home? with the Delhi police commissioner to mark the force?s Raising Day.

?When roses of Bangalore can be auctioned over the Internet for global supply, why can?t we use the same colourful medium of the Internet for marketing (the) extremely colourful and aesthetically pleasing products of our weavers and craftsmen through the medium of Internet marketing and e-commerce,? Kalam asked while inaugurating the exhibition.

Officials said it would take some more time for Kalam?s injury to heal completely and he is unlikely to move out of Delhi before his scheduled address to the joint sitting of Parliament on the opening day of the budget session on February 25.