Suri, West Bengal:
Protocol has made way for tradition it seems at Miriti, where President Pranab Mukherjee will worship his family deity, Devi Durga, at his ancestral house in West Bengal's Birbhum district beginning on Sunday.
Though the matter of protocol is more important this time, the President will take part in all puja rituals, according to his family and the district administration.
Arrangements have been made accordingly, but some change may take place finally, when probably for the first time, a President will worship his family deity as a priest.
The first citizen will reach Miriti, around 240 km from Kolkata, on October 19 by helicopter and will stay till October 23, District Magistrate Jagdish Prasad Meena said.
Barring one or two times in his five decades of political life, Mr Mukherjee has managed to attend puja in Mriti every year.
Despite being a very important minister of the central government then, Mr Mukherjee has always spent the four days of the pujas in his ancestral house as a family member.
Mr Mukherjee has been very sincere to the tradition established by his grandfather Jangaleswar Mukherjee.
Till last year, Mr Mukherjee went on foot to the village canal to fill an earthen pot with water, a ritual of Durga puja, and recited from Chandi, the scriptures.
But it is not yet clear to what extent the President-priest will perform the puja rituals and it is not yet clear whether he will venture to the canal.
The ghat at the canal has been reconstructed and fenced off.
The temple too has been renovated as also the main entrance, the boundary-walls and the compound under the supervision of Abhijit Mukherjee, his son.