Former president A.P.J. Abdul Kalam painted the first few strokes on a canvas that will be completed by India's most famous painter M.F. Husain - to raise funds for the Banyan, an organisation devoted to the rehabilitation of mentally challenged women.

Kalam, whose term at the Rashtrapati Bhavan ended last month, wrote on a blank canvas, in myriad hues of blue and green tinged with red and yellow: "Dream transforms into thought, thought results into action, that is Banyan." He then signed his name.

Husain's son Mustafa, present here at the inauguration of Banyan's community mental health centre and Spice Route, its social enterprise wing, will now take the canvas to the artist.

On completion, the painting will be auctioned and its price has been pegged at a minimum of Rs.20 million (nearly $488,000).

The money will go towards Banyan's core fund for the mentally challenged and destitute women it supports.

"Banyan plans a corpus of $5 million and this year, it plans to raise at least Rs.50 million," said ICICI Bank's Nachiket Mor, who is also a volunteer with the group and has raised Rs.18 million at the Mumbai Marathon this January.

M.F. Husain and Mustafa Husain were approached by renowned filmmaker Mani Ratnam for Banyan's 'protected community' project.

Banyan, started 14 years ago by Vandana Gopikumar and Vaishnavi Jayakumar, is an NGO that has so far taken in and offered shelter and health care to more than 1,800 mentally challenged and destitute women.