Next Indian Prez. to play active role
The Indian President wakes to the sound of trumpets and horseback riders in the cobbled courtyard of her magnificent palace in New Delhi, walks on a treadmill, prays at a private temple and prepares for a long, hollow day. That's how it has been for the current incumbent Pratibha Devisingh Patil and her 11 predecessors as President of India: a grand office and an opulent home with almost no power. But that might change when Patil leaves office in July and a new President is elected for the next five years.