Amitav Ghosh gives Indians a glimpse of Rashtrapati Bhavan

Noted author Amitav Ghosh on July 8 announced his stint as the writer-in-residence at the Rashtrapati Bhavan on Twitter. 

According to a report by Scroll.in, the In-Residence programme at the Rashtrapati Bhavan is the brain-child of President Pranab Mukherjee and was launched in 2013.

Ghosh, noted for works like The Shadow Lines and Sea of Poppies, has already started providing the wider world a glimpse of what it is like to be inside the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Starting from July 10, Ghosh has posted various photographs of his stay there so far through his Twitter handle. 

A picture capturing the Rajpath was followed by one of the Rampurva Bull Capital, originally from an Ashokan pillar in Champaran, Bihar. 

There was more to come, and more Ghosh did provide. On the same day, he posted a picture of one of the rooms inside the Rashtrapati Bhavan. 

Next day, another picture followed showing all of us how the President, the President's guests and dignitaries dine, or in this case where Ghosh and his wife, Deborah Baker, had lunch with the President and his daughter Sharmistha Mukherjee. 

According to the Scroll.in article, Ghosh's five-day stay is different from those of his predecessors. The article states that he is the first to be put up in Rashtrapati Bhavan’s guest wing, the section "normally opened up only for heads of states".

Ghosh also visited the stables of the President's Body Guard. 

Further, in keeping with the theme of his recent book The Great Derangement, Ghosh also documented the environment-friendly facilities on the presidential estate's premises. Ghosh went on to post photos of the sewage treatment complex, describing it as "beautifully designed". 

On July 12, he went on to post another picture of "sustainable, drought-resistant millets" being grown on a part of Rashtrapati Bhavan's grounds. 

What followed was a snap of the table "where Nelson Mandela breakfasted during his stay at Rashtrapati Bhavan". 

Ghosh told Scroll.in that he didn’t have any "immediate plans to write about his experience". However, the article quoted him as saying, “But it may well find its way into my work indirectly.”