Good morning/Good afternoon/Good evening my friends, wherever you are! This is 2:00am. 15thAugust, 2019, Thursday in India. Today is the Independence Day of India; a proud day for all the Indians! And this day is more special for us, because, you know that it’s our anniversary day! I want to congratulate you all for the 7th anniversary of this blog; because, this journey never can be completed without your love and support. Thank you so much my friends for your love!
On every Independence Day, I really miss a person, who is not in
my family list, or I didn’t know him personally, but, I remember his words in
several times in my life! He is our former President Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam. He
has passed away on July 27, 2015. It is really a great
loss for India as well as Indians. His life is a ‘Teaching-Institute’ itself, I
think! Today I want to remember him and show him my respect by telling you some
unknown stories about him. Here I go………
Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul
Kalam
who was popularly known as APJ Abdul Kalam was one of the most influential
personalities of India. This former president of India (11th president of India)
is a lot more than just a political figure. He is a scientist, thinker,
Inspiration and a youth icon. Undoubtedly he was in true sense “the missile
man” of India. Despite achieving such a stupendous success on every front in
life, he always believed in simplicity and humility. People know him as a
renowned scientist, played a pivotal role in giving spur to India's space
technology. But very few would be aware about multifaceted life of Kalam.
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| The school of Kalam Sir |
Abdul Kalam was born as the youngest of five children of a
Muslim boat owner named Jainulabudeen and his wife Ashiamma, in Rameswaram,
Tamil Nadu. His father, a humble boat owner, Jainulabdeen, was a devout
Muslim and a close friend of the Rameswaram temple priest. Kalam
grew up in humble surroundings and had to take up a job while he was still in
school in order to augment his family’s meager income—he distributed newspapers
to help his father in providing for the family. He was a bright young boy,
blessed with a thirst for knowledge and was always eager to learn new things. Kalam
used to get up at 4 am, bathe, and then go for his mathematics class, which was
taught by a teacher who took only five students in the whole session; and
bathing before class was a condition he had laid to all his students. He
completed his schooling from Ramanathapuram Schwartz Matriculation School and
proceeded to study physics at the Saint Joseph's College, Tiruchirappalli, from
where he graduated in 1954. Then he studied aerospace engineering in Madras
Institute of Technology, graduating in 1960. His childhood ambition was to
become a fighter pilot but he narrowly missed achieving his dream.
Muslim by religion, he believed in all religion. A.P.J. Abdul
Kalam used to read both Kuran, Bhagvad Gita. Not only that, he was expert in
playing Saraswati, Veena. Dr. Kalam was
a scholar of Thirukkural (a classic of couplets or Kurals). In most of his
speeches, he quoted at least one kural.
Kalam was the third President of India to have been honored
with a Bharat Ratna before being elected to the chair of President. The
Bharat Ratna was conferred on Dr. Kalam by K. R. Narayanan who was then
President of India. Not only that, the Government of India has honored him with
the nation’s highest civilian honors: the Padma Bhushan (1981), Padma Vibhushan
(1990) for his contribution in ISRO and DRDO and his role as a scientific
advisor to the Government of India. In 2003 and in 2006 he was nominated for
the MTV Youth Icon of the Year award.
Kalam was a part of country’s first nuclear test. He was the
Chief Scientific Adviser to Defense Minister and Secretary, Department of Defense
Research & Development (July 1992 to December 1999). Pokhran-2 nuclear
tests were conducted under his leadership. He is the first scientist and first
unmarried person to become the President of India.
Sir Kalam took great care of his colleagues. He is very kind
and caring person. A co worker had promised his kids that he would take them to
the local carnival after returning from work, the co-worker had also obtained
the prior permission of Mr.Kalam to leave early. The colleague was involved in
his work that it was well into and then he realized that he had made a promise
to his kids. On rushing back home, he came to know through his wife that
Mr.Kalam had come earlier and taken his kids to the carnival!
Soon after
becoming president in 2002, he was supposed to address students at a school
function. When he was about to start his speech, the electricity suddenly went
off. Nothing was working but Kalam remained nonchalant. He told huge crowd of
students to gather him around listen him. Kalam gave the mesmerizing lecture
without any interruption for hours. Such was the aura of the Kalam.
Once Kalam
ordered not to put broken glass on the wall for its protection as it will harm
birds. This had happened when he used to serve at Defence Research and
Development Organization (DRDO).When Organization had planned to put glass on
the wall as a protection cover, Kalam rejected the idea without thinking it
twice.
In one of the event when President Kalam was
offered special seat to him, he had refused the offer. The reason being the
chair was bigger in the size and was meant to give Kalam special honour. He had given up all his life
savings and salaries to a trust he founded named PURA (Providing Urban
Amenities to Rural Areas).
As
the President, Dr. Kalam was entitled to invite anyone as the “Presidential Guests”
to the Raj Bhavan of Kerela during his first visit to Trivandrum. Dr. Kalam had
spent a significant time as a scientist in Trivandrum and he invited a
road-side cobbler – who was quite close to Dr. Kalam during his time in Kerala;
and so was the owner of the small hotel where Dr. Kalam would often have his
meals. Can you imagine any other politician or a celebrity inviting a
cobbler and a small business owner as their most prestigious guests?
Truly, Dr. Kalam was a man who believed in serving the humankind
with love and magnanimous attitude.
That’s all for today! Hope you liked today’s story. I’m always
trying to manage more time to blog, as you all want; hope this year I can blog
more here! Take care of your family, children and of course of yourself! Have a good
day/ afternoon/evening/night! Namaskar.
Those who cannot work with their hearts achieve but a hollow, half-hearted success that breeds bitterness all around.’ – APJ Abdul Kalam.
JAI HIND
