A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, India's first "Powerpoint
President", charmed audiences at several venues here Monday as he used a computer and a large screen to stress the points he made in his speeches.

At the stately Russian Academy of Sciences, where he was heard by a scholarly group of scientists, and again at the imposing Moscow State University, where students of foreign affairs and assorted academics came to listen to him, Kalam clearly surprised the audience when he took up position behind a laptop, a laser pointer in his hand.

As Kalam, who is in Russia as part of a fortnight-long, four-nation European tour, touched on subjects as eclectic as particle physics, biotechnology, nano-technology and seismology, the powerpoint presentation kept pace, emphasising all that he said in bullet points and illustrating matters graphically.

At the university, the audience of some 100 students and professors initially wore a bemused look as Kalam launched into a discourse on why it was important for students to conquer the word "impossible".

But the bemusement soon gave way to interest as the presentation progressed, and the president - who was introduced by the university's Rector Victor Sadonichy as a "Muslim who can quote both the Quran and the Gita" - outlined what was needed to groom enlightened students and evolve a "knowledge society".

"I have heard a lot of politicians in this room, but he is clearly the most intelligent of them," Professor Kotlofovskiy Igol, chairman of the university's risk management and insurance department, told IANS after Kalam's presentation.

"He really is an unusually interesting man," said Igol, who is somewhat of an Indophile.

Nikita Argav, a student of "world politics", concurred. "It was very interesting. Your president has a lot of knowledge," he said in halting English as he stepped out of the large and airy conference hall where Kalam's presentation was beamed on a large white screen and two television sets.

Kalam truly came into his own when the floor was thrown open to questions and students wanted to know his views on subjects ranging from nuclear proliferation, globalisation, terrorism and how Russia could replicate India's success in IT.

Between painstakingly answering each question, Kalam informed the university rector that he was quite enjoying himself and would be only too happy to take more queries.

Needless to say, his visit to the university - which has also played host to former Indian prime ministers Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Atal Bihari Vajpayee - extended well beyond the scheduled time.