No matter how long they live after they leave Rashtrapati Bhavan, Indian Presidents are traditionally expected to walk into the sunset and never enter the public fray again.

The people's President will no doubt be an exception.

On the afternoon he demits office, President A P J Abdul Kalam will fly to Chennai's Anna University to resume his teaching career which was interrupted when then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee invited him to be the National Democratic Alliance's candidate for President in July 2002.

His predecessors -- even someone as eloquent as Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, or as forceful as V V Giri, or as political as Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy -- retired into ex-President roles, away from the glare of politics or public life.

rediff.com looks at what our Presidents did after they left the majestic portals of Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Image: US President George W Bush's motorcade arrives at Rashtrapati Bhavan, March 2006.
Photographs: Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images

Next