When Pranab wished to be re-born as one of Prez's horses

Pranab Mukherjee had wanted to be reborn as one of the well-bred horses in the President's stable at the Rashtrapati Bhawan, he had jocularly told his elder sister years back when he was a young MP.

"Several years ago when my brother was an MP, we were sipping tea sitting on the verandah of his bungalow in Delhi which had a view of the President's stable on the Raisina Hills.

"Looking at the horses, he said 'what fun these horses have as they don't have to do anything and get all the care. Wish I am reborn as one of these'," reminiscenced octogenarian Annapurna Banerjee sitting in her home here.

"I told him why a horse in the President's stable, you will become the President of the country one day. This has come true today," Annapurna said with pride in her voice for her brother, who from a boy in an unknown village in Bengal became the President-elect of the country.

"I am very happy," she said shortly after her brother emerged victorious in the July 19 Presidential poll.

Annapurna sat glued in front of the TV along with her family through the day. "Though the result is known I am anxious till it is declared."

Asked whether she would go to Delhi for the swearing-in, she said she would not be able to do so due to her frail health.