We tried to build a happy township: Mukherjee on 5 years in

"We tried to build a humane and happy township," said Pranab Mukherjee in his last address to the nation as the president, summing up his five years in the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
The 81-year-old Mukherjee, who will move from the 340- room sprawling presidential residence to a bungalow tomorrow after handing over the baton to Ram Nath Kovind, said he had tried to spread happiness to a few villages in the neighbourhood in the last five years.
"The journey continues," he said.
"During my five years in Rashtrapati Bhavan, we tried to build a humane and happy township. We found happiness that is associated with joy and pride, smiling and laughter, good health, feeling of safety and positive actions," he added.

The president said they learnt "to wear a smile", to "laugh at life" and to "connect with nature" and get "involved" with the community.
"Then we extended our experience to a few villages in the neighbourhood. The journey continues," he said.

He recollected a speech he had delivered on the eve of Independence day on 2012 in which he said, "India asks each one of us in whatever role we play in the complex drama of nation building" to do their duty with integrity, commitment and loyalty enshrined in the Constitution.
"When I speak to you tomorrow, it will not be as the president but as a citizen -- a pilgrim like all of you in India's onward march towards glory," he said.

He said as one advanced in years, so did one's "propensity to sermonise".
"But I have no sermon to make. For the past fifty years of my public life, my sacred text has been the Constitution of India; My temple has been the Parliament of India; and My passion has been the service of the people of India," he said.
He emphasised that a modern nation was built on some essential fundamentals - democracy or equal rights for every citizen, secularism or equal freedom to every faith, equality of every region, and economic equity.
"For development to be real, the poorest of the land must feel that they are a part of the nation's narrative," he said.

He recalled a promise that he had made on the day he took over as the president -- of preserving, protecting and defending the Constitution, in word and spirit.
"Each day of these five years, I was conscious of my responsibility. I learnt from my travels across the length and breadth of the country. I learnt from my conversations with young and bright minds ...These interactions kept me focused and inspired," he said.
He "strove hard", he added, but how successful he was in discharging his responsibilities would "be judged, over time, by the critical lens of history".