Mzia Tsereteli, 76, sat in an armchair dressed in a plain black cardigan and a long black skirt. She wore no make-up or jewelry. The only accessory that decorated her clothes was a brooch in the shape of a bunch of flowers with multicolored stones in it.

Tsereteli is a doctor who comes from an aristocratic background that includes the two noble family names of Tsereteli and Abashidze. She was brought up in the village of Tskhrukveti, which, according to her description, was "replete with academicians and professors."

Her grandfather was an entrepreneur who was also engaged in philanthropic activities. He was the founder of an organization called "Chemo" which sent Georgian young people abroad to get an education. Her grandmother came from the Bagrationi family, a royal dynasty in Georgia. Tsereteli's mother was also a doctor. Her father was a prominent lawyer also famous for his singing and writing of poems.

Tsereteli lives in an older one-floor brick house with a small garden in the Vedzisi district of Tbilisi. The interior is rich with objects of family importance: antique furniture, original paintings on many walls. There is one corner devoted to religious icons and a grand piano with family photos on it in another corner. One picture, which grabs the eye, portrays Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili holding a "Khantsi," the Georgian traditional vessel for drinking wine, with his wife Sandra Roelofs hugging him from behind his shoulder.

"There are the two things for which I can be proud of myself in my life: that I did a lot in the field of my specialty, and that I brought up praiseworthy offspring," Tsereteli said. She is the deputy head of the Department of Occupational Diseases at the Institute of the Labor Medicine and Ecology (former Institute of Industrial Hygiene and Occupational Diseases). Her duties and responsibilities include traveling in the regions of Georgia, diagnosing cases of occupational diseases among laborers and rendering first aid to them if necessary. "My prime obligation is to give a helping hand to workers and ordinary people," she said.

Tsereteli's daughter Giuli Alasania is a historian specializing in Eastern studies. Her son Teimuraz Alasania is a diplomat who lives in the United States and works for the UN. Two grandsons, Giorgi and Nikoloz, are motion picture producers working in America. The third grandchild is the President of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili, known to both family members and the rest of the Georgian people as Misha.

Tsereteli recalls that Misha showed great interest in politics during his student years. At the University in Kiev, where he studied international law, the students played a United Nations game in which Misha portrayed the French Ambassador. Before leaving for the Ukraine, he had attempted to enter the Moscow Institute of International Affairs, but he scored one point less than he needed to get accepted. For one year Misha worked at the Institute of Industrial Hygiene and Occupational Diseases. After finishing his freshman year, Misha was sent to the city of Chop, the westernmost point in Transcarpathia, Ukraine, to complete his military service with the frontier troops.

Tsereteli admits that she did not feel too enthusiastic when Misha became President. "I was not excited," she said. "Misha inherited Georgia with lots of economical and social problems. I worried that he would have to deal with all these difficulties."

But Tsereteli said that as time passes she becomes prouder of her grandson. "Misha is an outstanding president who has already won admiration and sympathy from big political leaders throughout the world. He is the youngest National President in Europe," she said.

Tsereteli believes there are various reasons for the Georgian people's affection towards Misha. As a former ally who became a radical opponent to ex-president Eduard Shevardnadze's rule, he steered the revolutionary aspirations of the Georgian people by engaging in nonviolent civil disobedience. He led the mass protests that culminated in the ouster of Shevardnadze in the Rose Revolution on November 23, 2003.

"Misha is truly concerned about Georgia's future. He would like to see his country united and prosperous," she said. Tsereteli believes that Misha's initiative to rehabilitate the name of Zviad Gamsakhurdia, the first President of Georgia in the post-Soviet era, and repatriate his body from Grozny (Chechen Republic) to Tbilisi, also contributed to his winning the affection of people.

In Tsereteli's opinion, the fact that Misha speaks several foreign languages makes him well-liked and respected in the international community. Tsereteli recalls with a smile that her grandson started learning English at the age of four. "He studied English under the table by playing with his toy soldiers," she said. Later he took English lessons with Gela Charkviani, who was serving as chief advisor to Shevardnadze. In the fourth form, Misha began learning French from emigrant Mara Chavchavadze, whose picture he keeps in his private office. Misha studied Spanish in Kiev.

According to Tsereteli, Misha is also very good at writing and translating poems. He translated a number of poems by famous Georgians including Ana Kalandadze, Vazha Pshavela and Galaktion Tabidze. According to his grandmother, "he can have a look at a page once and know everything written there."

However, "Misha is not good at hackwork (workmanship). He is unable to hammer a nail on the wall," she said with a smile.

Tsereteli says her grandson is a workaholic and tireless. "His brain does not rest a minute. He sleeps four hours a day. I warned him that he would need a doctor soon, but he took offense and suggested my consulting with a doctor instead," she laughed.

Tsereteli said she sees her grandson occasionally. She says his visit is a bustling event. "There is much havoc, which Misha himself finds embarrassing, with his showing up. The roads along our street get blocked from both sides. He gets out of the car with his entourage of bodyguards accompanying him. He walks into the yard at a hasty pace, where his favorite Caucasian Shepherd "Simba," whom he brought to this house, jumps at him," she said.

At 3 pm, Tsereteli switched on the TV to the Rustavi-2 news program "Courieri." It Saakashvili was making a speech at the opening of a monument in Tbilisi of Anatoli Sobchak, the mayor of Saint Petersburg who Georgians honor for reporting the truth about the tragic deaths of protestors in front of Parliament on April 9, 1989.

Tsereteli said Misha never speaks about politics or discusses his political decisions at home. As a result, his family depends on the media as the only way to learn about what Misha does at work. Although Tsereteli says she has a thirst for information, she evaluates the work of Georgian journalists as negative, and the coverage they present as reprehensible. According to her, journalists write obscenities, often behave impudently, and are good at slandering people.

"I get indignant with the way they interfere with the private life of others," she said. "They write defamatory things that are far from reality." Tsereteli also stated that Georgian journalists lack professionalism and the ability to talk proper Georgian language.

April 9 was Good Friday. The small table in front of the armchairs was set with Easter food -- dyed red eggs and Easter cakes. There were two plastic bags of Easter presents on the floor nearby. One bag was for Giuli, Tsereteli's daughter, the other for Sandra.

Talking about her foreign granddaughter in-law, Tsereteli said that Sandra is a normal woman and that her Dutch origin does not influence her attitudes. According to Tsereteli, Sandra comes from a well-off family. Her parents arrive in Georgia twice a year and enjoy being in the country very much. They even were considering buying a country house close to Tbilisi, but Saakashvili strongly disapproved of the idea. "His reaction was: 'I struggle against illegal properties our corrupted governmental officials possess and register under the names of their parents-in law,'" she said.

Tsereteli said some people consider Sandra too inattentive towards her appearance because she often goes around with messy hair, which may be inappropriate for a president's wife. In Tsereteli's words: "Sandra believes that they (her husband and she) have to lead the same ordinary life as others do."

Tsereteli said she shares Sandra's belief. "I prefer to lead a reserved lifestyle, rather than be known as a prominent grandmother," Tsereteli said.