At the break of dawn, 63-year-old G Sivadasan walks up to the Marine Drive on the banks of Vembanadu Lake in Kerala's Kochi with a handful of flowers.
He brooms the bust of former Indian President APJ Abdul Kalam before paying floral tributes.
It has been a daily routine for Sivadasan, a carpenter by profession, for the last three years.
“Kalam is a tall figure. I still cherish the memories of meeting him twice,” Sivadasan told Malayala Manorama on Friday, a day before the former president's fourth death anniversary. “I make it a point to visit this place in winter, summer and monsoon,” he said.
Greater Kochi Development Authority (GCDA) installed Kalam's bust at the Marine Drive, Kochi's most popular promenade, in 2016 to pay tribute to 'India's Missile Man'.
The cleaning staff of the GCDA, which maintains the Marine Drive and its surroundings, has confirmed Sivadasan's claim.
“He cleans the bust and its surrounding every day. We don't have to bother about it,” they said.
Kalam served as the 11th President of India between 2002 and 2007. He died on July 27, 2015, while delivering a lecture at the Indian Institute of Management in Shillong, aged 83.
Sivadasan became a Kalam fan long before the latter became India's President.
“I first met him in Kollam. I don't remember the year, but I am sure that it was a few years before he became India's first citizen.”
His second meeting with Kalam is still afresh in his mind. “It was in Thiruvananthapuram,” he recounted. “I was standing among the crowd with folded hands. Suddenly he came to me and handed Rs 500. I was quite surprised.”
Sivadasan says he has been cleaning Kalam's bust "as he thinks it is the best way to pay him back."
However, Sivadasan regrets that he could not pay last respects to his hero.
“I was in Gujarat when he passed away. I could not even visit his home in Rameshwaram.”
Sivadasan came to Kochi in 2015. He visits his family in Kollam once in a week, but never stays at home at night.
“If I stay there, who will take care of the bust?” he asked.
