In his parliamentary constituency of Jangipur, Pranab Mukherjee was to
attend the inauguration of a school as a chief guest. This school was
to have started in the name of a now deceased Bengali woman, whom
Pranab Mukherjee knew well. So, his presence there was justified. The
program was to start at 2 p.m. but Pranab reached there an hour late.
As soon as the program started, Pranab took the mike into his hands
and started off. The organisers were left shocked, as per the schedule
Pranab was to speak last as the chief guest. Aware of the surprised
look on the faces of the organisers, `dada’ himself handled the
situation well – `I know that I was to speak last, but pardon me
because if I would get late then my helicopter would not be able to
fly to Kolkata’ … and then Pranab continued with his extempore speech.