The election of A P J Abdul Kalam by a college of parliamentarians and state-level legislators and his swearing in on Jul. 25 was no flash in the pan.

After all, the man he replaced at the splendorous Rashtrapati Bhavan, once a palace for the former viceroys of the British Empire, came from even humbler origins and belonged to a Hindu caste once regarded as untouchable.

In New Delhi's snobbish cocktail circuit, no one would have given either Kalam, or his predecessor, K R Narayanan, a second glance but for the exalted position they attained through dint of hard academic work in the early part of their careers.

But according to sociologist Abhijit Pathak, who teaches at the prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru University, Kalam and Narayanan are "not merely ornamental and present fine examples of India's democracy at work over the past half century and contrasts sharply with the post-colonial experience of its immediate neighbours in South Asia".

India's leadership at independence from British colonial rule in 1947 were drawn largely from among 'Oxbridge' educated lawyers and other professionals including Mahatma Gandhi, who was a Middle Temple barrister before he decided to become a bare-chested, loincloth wearing fakir.

Jawharlal Nehru, India's first prime minister, was a product of Harrow and was said to have retained upper class English tastes throughout his life. His daughter Indira Gandhi, who ruled India with an iron hand until her assassination in 1984, went to a Swiss finishing school.

Kalam is a homegrown rocket scientist whose sole trip to the United States was a six-month stint at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in the sixties to study the 'Scout' launcher and make an Indian version.

Narayanan worked as a sub-editor in a newspaper before winning a scholarship to study at the London School of Economics but, like Kalam, he retains in his speech a distinct South Indian accent.

The rate of upward mobility through democratic politics has been even faster in the provinces. India's largest state, northern Uttar Pradesh, is firmly ruled by Mayawati, who overcame the triple-deprivation of caste, poverty and gender to become chief minister for the second time.

Similarly, eastern Bihar state, which together with Uttar Pradesh accounts for 300 million people, is ruled by Laloo Prasad Yadav, the son of a shepherd who, despite a law degree to his name, deliberately flaunts rustic mannerisms to retain his popularity as a leader of the peasant castes in his state.

"There is an increasing trend for Indian democracy to throw up leaders from the grassroots and from previously marginalised groups rather than from among the urban upper class," said Pathak.

This trend, he says, is yet to take hold in largely-feudal Pakistan and the other large South Asian countries such as Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, which are run by elite families.

Nepal, a constitutional monarchy, is still experimenting with multi-party democracy ushered in 10 years ago. Bhutan, another Himalayan kingdom, has a long way to go in making a similar transition.

Many among the Indian elite fear that the undistinguished looks and incorrect accents of India's leaders may prove a handicap for a country trying to cope in an increasingly globalised and televised world, where there is much emphasis on appearance and 'power dressing'.

During the failed Indo-Pakistan summit at the Indian city of Agra last year, the nattily dressed former army commando, Pakistan President Gen Pervez Musharraf, eclipsed India's octogenarian prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee who, on the rare occasions he appeared on television, was seen shuffling along on newly installed artificial knees covered by a simple 'dhoti' or white loincloth.

Deportment that is not quite up to scratch may now be extending beyond grassroots politicians and into the officer corps of the army and civil service.

Coomi Kapoor, columnist for the 'Indian Express', comments that India's elite classes complain that "representatives of our country abroad do not have the etiquette and style expected of the truly well-bred and well-educated".

"Their unhappiness is not so much with the content of the Indians' argument, but that the Pakistani looks more suave and polished with his Savile Row suit, gelled hair and Oxbridge accent, compared to the Indian with his middle class mannerisms, 'desi' (homegrown) accent and shiny safari suit," Kapoor adds.

Kapoor also points out that Gen V P Malik, the man who led the Indian army during the 1999 war with Pakistan at Kargil on the Line of Control (LoC) in divided Kashmir, is the son of an ordinary soldier which she thinks is "unimaginable in the Pakistani Army".

Officers of the Indian army are, nowadays, rarely drawn from the elite or even aristocratic families, as was the practice before independence. The chances are that they come from the families of ordinary soldiers who looked up to their superiors and aspired for their sons to follow them.

Much of the credit for that must go to the 'socialist' policies of the opposition Congress party which, under Indira Gandhi, abolished state privileges for royal families, nationalised the banking industry and aligned the country with the former Soviet Union.

Kalam's unfashionably long hair and a tendency to appear for public functions in sandals and half sleeves were the subject of much agonising in the Indian newspapers in the days before his swearing-in, at which he turned up with trimmed locks and an 'achkan' (a traditional, knee-length, buttoned-up coat).

Matching the professionals and politicians are new entrants into the business class, monopolised by dynastic families that have been in existence since colonial times.

These include the Tatas, who own steel mills and the Birlas, who profited from running jute mills before diversifying into other kinds of manufacturing and mining.

The most notable Johnny-come-lately of Indian business is Dhirubhai Ambani, who started out as petrol pump assistant and went on to own Asia's largest petrochemical complex before he died this month. He left behind a business empire valued at 15 billion dollars and a company that figures in the Fortune 500 listing.

But for all its successes, India remains an underdeveloped country and one with severe disparities.

Both Kalam and Narayanan pointed this out in televised speeches they made as part of the presidential change-of-guard, speaking of the need to involve underprivileged and marginalised groups into developmental activity.

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