Coming, Nakshatra garden at Rashtrapati Bhavan

The presidential palace is getting a new one that will have trees to match your star sign — the Nakshatra garden, reports Aloke Tikku.

Rashtrapati Bhavan has spiritual, herbal and Moghul gardens. Now, the presidential palace is getting a new one that will have trees to match your star sign — the Nakshatra garden.

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Each of the 27 nakshatras — the constellation in which the moon was placed at the time of one’s birth – will be associated with a specific tree.

“There will be trees associated with each Nakshatra… people can even pose for photographs with their tree in the garden,” Secretary to the President Dr Christy Leon Fernandez said at a press conference – possibly, the first that any Rashtrapati Bhavan official has convened — on Friday.

The first tree will be planted on Wednesday when President Pratibha Devisingh Patil celebrates her 73rd birthday.

Kerala – that has won accolades for its Incredible India campaign – launched its version of the Nakshatra garden two years ago to woo tourists.

Fernandez, who announced a string of initiatives to open life beyond the giant iron gates of Rashtrapati Bhavan to the people, said Patil — the First Citizen – wanted people to identify with the sprawling building.

President Patil has also suggested that more rooms and areas of the presidential palace be opened to the public. So far, visitors are taken on tours to the museums, ceremonial halls like the Banquet Hall and Durbar Hall and the gardens.