A gentle knock at the door of Pratibha Patil’s South Avenue residence on Wednesday  afternoon will kickstart a string of ceremonial drills to usher in the 13th president of the 57-year-old republic.

The drill will begin with the arrival of Military Secretary to President Major General Vinod Chopra at Patil’s 9, South Avenue house in the backyard of Rashtrapathi Bhavan.

Gen Chopra will invite Ms Patil and her spouse, Devi Singh, to Rashtrapati Bhavan, where she will meet outgoing President A P J Abdul Kalam in the study room and the countdown for change of guard at Raisina Hills will begin.
Dr Kalam, sitting on the right side of the presidential vehicle, will be accompanied by Ms Patil to the saluting dais, where Presidential Body Guards (PBGs) will give a national salute to the outgoing president.

Thereafter, the two VIPs will leave for Parliament House, led by the mounted PBGs. They will be received at the gate by Deputy  Rajya Sabha Chairman  K Rahman Khan, Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chaterjee and Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan.

Even here, Dr Kalam will be presented a national salute by the PBG with Ms Patil standing next to him.
Immediately after this, they will move in a procession inside the Central Hall of Parliament where Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta will seek Dr Kalam’s permission to read out the Election Commission communique on the presidential poll. Then, the Chief Justice will administer the oath of office to Ms Patil, while a 21-gun salute would be accorded to the new president.

Ms Patil will take oath  at 2:40 pm, the auspicious moment decided by Mr Shekhawat’s family astrologer, Pandit Abhishek Sharma of Jaipur, a family source said.

After this, their seating position in Central Hall as well as in the presidential car will interchange.

First national salute
The new president, along with Dr Kalam, will come out of the Central Hall and she will receive the first national salute from the PBGs.

From Parliament, the two VVIPs would return to Rahstrapathi Bhavan,  where they would again go back to the study for a brief while, giving time for dignitaries to assemble in the forecourt of Rashtrapati Bhavan.

After a brief while, the new president will make her first appearance in the forecourt of Rashtrapati Bhavan, where the Military Secretary would introduce her to Defence Minister A K Antony and the three service chiefs.  She will then inspect the first Inter-Services Guard of Honour, after which she would go back to the study of  Rashtrapati Bhavan  and return with the outgoing president.

Kalam, as the outgoing Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, will be presented the last Inter-Services Guard of Honour. After this, Ms Patil will drop him at 26, Mall Road Guest House, readied by the army for the missile-man.

The scientist will leave later on Wednesday night for Chennai, where he will take up an assignment with the Anna University.