Who Will Be The Next President?

India is very close to getting its first President from the saffron brigade. But who? Some gossip, guesswork and political arithmetic as the presidential race starts shaping up

- Damayanti Datta

Who wants to be the President of India? It’s the greatest job ever. Your salary of Rs 1.5 lakh a month may not sound much, but it’s tax-free and may soon become Rs 5 lakh. And the perks are more than worth the small amount of effort you have to put in: for five years of speech-making, inaugurating, launching, felicitating and rubbing shoulders with the high and mighty of the world, you get to live in the most exclusive and expensive piece of real estate in the world—three times the size of Vatican city—free of rent. Your palace is larger than that of the Sultan of Brunei, the Royals of England or the US President.

It’s the perfect job for perfect happiness. Set amidst 33 acres of peaceful woodlands, you wake up to the cawing of peacocks, potter around your 340 rooms, 11.5 miles of corridors, order around your battery of 200-plus staff and bodyguards, go for a ride in your Mercedes-Benz S6000 or any of those luxury sedans in your motorcade, taste those signature dishes rustled up by chef Montu Saini, youngest Club des Chefs des Chefs member, retire to meditative reverie in your majestic library, listening dimly to the distant hoof beats of your parading horses, as the heart of capital Delhi lights up with your illuminated parapets. If you get tired of all these, take off for any of your two luxury retreats in Hyderabad and Shimla. Or travel anywhere in the world, for free. Because you are the President of India.