Pranab Mukherjee

Krishnagar, June 10: Foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee today lay on his tummy in front of Goddess Kali in a Nadia temple, apparently to thank her for a piece of good fortune.

On his way to Behrampore on a scorching afternoon, Mukherjee ordered his chauffeur to a stop at Bethuadahari, where a truck had rammed into his Ambassador on an April night.

He stepped out and asked for a Kali temple. And, as luck would have it, there was one a stone’s throw away.

After waiting for about five minutes in a Congress office, as the priest arranged his offering of flowers and sandesh, Mukherjee stepped into the temple and hit the ground straight away for a shashtanga pranam.

The priest started chanting mantras. Back on his feet and with folded hands, Mukherjee joined it.

After the ceremony, he came out with the sweetmeats — prasad — one of which went into his mouth and the others to party workers.

On April 7, the lorry coming from the opposite direc- tion had swerved out of con- trol after a tyre puncture and hit Mukherjee’s car about 130 km from Calcutta. He needed 15 stitches on the head but the injury could have been much worse.

In a thanksgiving speech today, Mukherjee, however, confined himself to praising the local people and the doctors who treated him.

“I don’t remember in de- tail what happened that night. But I remember the local people took me to the hospital. I’m grateful to them and to the doctors,” he said.