Four years after he left Bihar to move to Rashtrapati Bhavan, President Ram Nath Kovind returned to Patna to address the inaugural event at the centenary celebration of the Bihar legislative assembly building.
As Bihar's governor from August 2015 to June 2017, Kovind had addressed the Bihar legislature.
Please click on the images for a better look at the Rashtrapati's Return to Patna.
IMAGE: President Kovind's term ends in July 2022 and political observers are already drawing up lists of likely successors. All Photographs: Rashtrapati Bhavan
IMAGE: Even though he does not have the people-friendly reputation that President A P J Abdul Kalam enjoyed or the intellectual interactivity of his immediate predecessor President Pranab Mukherjee, President Kovind has a quiet sense of dignity about him.
Social media applauded when on a recent visit to the Mall in Shimla, the Rashtrapati insisted on paying for snacks he bought from a roadside vendor.
IMAGE: President Kovind turned 76 on October 1 and it does not seem likely at this stage that he will get a second term.
Only one President in the Republic's history has had two terms in office -- the first President, Rajendra Prasad, incidentally a native of Bihar.
If one's political calculus is right, the next President is likely to be a woman, possibly from the so-called scheduled tribes.
IMAGE: In recent months, the President has made several trips to his native Uttar Pradesh, which goes to the polls in March.
Of course, as the nation's First Citizen, the President is above partisan politics, but political dividends from such presidential excursions for his parent Bharatiya Janata Party can't be ruled out.
IMAGE: Even though he had a remarkable arc in his life, K R Narayanan -- the first Indian from the so-called scheduled castes to be elected President -- did not leave a memoir about his incredible life.
One hopes that President Kovind -- the second Indian from the same social background to be elected to the Presidency -- will write his memoirs.
One hopes it is as revealing as the ones Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy, Giani Zail Singh, R Venkataraman and Pranab Mukherjee wrote.
It would be a fascinating look at the Modi Years.
