Patna, July 9: Only he knows his reasons for being fond of Bihar and its people.

President Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam stays in touch with hundreds of ordinary farmers, common people and schoolchildren from Bihar through e-mails, letters and one-to-one chats. In fact, most people who have access to India’s supreme authority usually find it difficult to access their MPs and ministers — their true “representatives”.

“We were simply amazed that day when the President spent two-and-half hours explaining how we can utilise technology to raise agriculture produce,” said Balmiki Sharma, a farmer of Paliganj in Patna.

Kalam had invited Sharma, Vijay Kumar of Ajawan and three other farmers from Naubatpur and Arwal villages in central Bihar to show them how he had experimented with new technology to improve plant health at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. An unusual move made by a man who holds the highest office in the country.

Kalam had also visited Paliganj farmers in 2003, suggesting measures for alternative farming and ways to raise paddy quality in the region. There itself Kalam invited the farmers to meet him at Rastraparti Bhavan.

What was even more surprising was that the President confirmed his arrival to participate in a global meet on “Resurgent Bihar” in response to the call made by the editor of a little-known portal Bihartimes.com, Ajay Kumar, in January this year.

Neither the chief minister Nitish Kumar nor the top mandarins of Bihar government believed that Kalam would respond to such a “small man’s” invitation.

Later, the Bihar CM went all out to welcome the President who made a power-point presentation on his “vision for the development of Bihar” at the meet. 'In fact, I believe that the people of Bihar would miss Kalam more than their counterparts in other states. That includes Kerala, a place to which Kalam belongs to,” remarked the director of Bihar Agriculture Management and Extension of Training Institute, K.M. Singh whom the President picked up to coordinate the meeting between him and the common farmers.

Singh, who was present on the occasion reminisced that Kalam would derive real satisfaction from talking to farmers for long hours at small places like Paliganj and Naubatpur during his 2003 visit.

Kalam has visited Bihar four times in five years of his stay in Raisina Hill — a venture no other president, including Rajendra Prasad who hailed from Bihar, under took.

It was Kalam who initiated the move for the revival of the international university at Nalanda on the ruins of the ancient seat of learning.

Reciprocating the President’s interest, Nitish Kumar government has decided to appoint Kalam as a “visitor” to the new Nalanda University, which has Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen in its “mentor group”.

In fact, keeping his people’s sentiment in mind, Nitish Kumar, till the last moment, had been stating that he “wished Kalam a second term”. Nitish showed his preference for Kalam even after the BJP veteran Bhairon Singh Shekhawat threw his hat in the ring.