Essays

"Dream, dream, dream.

Transforms into thoughts,

Thoughts result into action."

Reverberated a jam-packed hall in Kolkata on Jan 21, 2003, when the 11^th President of India inspired thousands of school children to dream, to dream big and let those dreams culminate into thoughts and actions.      

Dr. Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam, was born on October 15, 1931 at Rameshwaram, Tamil Nadu.

He is the son of a humble fisherman who owned a boat. He studied at Schwartz High School in Ramanathapuram where he found an ideal teacher in lyadurai Solomon. From him Kalam learnt the key to success in life* "To succeed in life and achieve results, you must understand and master three mighty forces - desire, belief and expectation." He did his B.Sc. from St. Joseph college, Tiruchirapalli oblivious even to the option for higher education. He did a course in Aeronautical Engineering from Madras Engineering College in 1954-1957. Here, he was fascinated by the sight of two decommissioned aircrafts displayed for demonstration. Fascinated by the desire to fly when lie had to opt for a specific branch - aeronautical engineering became a natural choice- He started his career with DRDO in 1958 and went ahead to join ISRO five years later where he was the project director of SLVB, It was due to the team effort under his leadership that 'Rohini' was successfully launched in 1980. This was the beginning of India's aerospace programme. He also realized that the SLV technology can be- successfully used for missile creation. In 1981, he was honoured with Padma Bhushan.

In 1982, he was entrusted with the development of Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme. Dr. Kalam henceforth plunged into developing 'Prithvi', the surface to surface weapon system, Agni', 'Trishul', Akash' and 'Nag'. He is also responsible for the completion of the long delayed Arjun' anti-tank project and also worked upon an indigenous aircraft engine 'Kaveri'. In 1990, he was awarded the Padma Vibhushan and Akash' too was test-fired successfully. In recognition to his great contribution to the development of indigenous defence technology, he was awarded the Bharat Ratna in 1997. In 1998, nuclear tests were conducted and thereafter he was appointed the Principal Scientific Advisor to the Government of India with the rank of a Union Cabinet Minister in November 1999, a position in which he continued to be till November 2001. In December 2000, the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, K.C. Pant conferred the 'Lifetime Contribution Award' to Dr, Kalam.                                 

On July 25, 2002, he took oath as the 11^th President of India. Presently, he is the Fellow of Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore, Vice-President of Astronautical Society of India, Fellow of National Academy of Medical Sciences, India, Honorary Fellow of Institution of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineers and an ISRO distinguished Professor.

Dr. Kalam has a literary bent of mind as well- 'Wings of Fire' is his autobiography wherein he describes his humble journey, shares his life experiences and aspirations with the people. As he shares his life's experiences in this book, we weep with him and we celebrate with him. Every Indian should read his autobiography in today's time. He has also written 'Ignited Minds' and 'India 2020, a vision of the New Millennium', India 2020 is his pathway of developing India into a Developed Nation by 2020. 'Ignited Minds - unleashing the power within India' is dedicated to Snehal Thakkar who had questioned Kalam on April 12, 2002 'Who is our enemy?'. The book is a must read for every citizen especially children and the youth of the country. Dr, Kalam is a poet too and enjoys music. He is also fond of playing veena. Despite being a great and honoured man, he is simplicity personified, extremely down to earth, kind and gentle. His love for children is revealed in the fact that even after holding the highest Constitutional title he has been touring the entire nation, meeting school students, talking to them, lecturing them, interacting with them and inspiring them. All he wants to do is to open a small school in Rameshwararn and teach the children there, once he retires.

All Indians are proud of his great achievements and humble persona. He observes strict discipline, practices vegetarianism, teetotalism and celibacy. He reads both the Quran and the Bhagwad Gita and his book 'Guiding Souls; Dialogues on the purpose of life' reveals his spiritual facets too.

Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam retired from his job en July 25, 2007, after completion of the term, and passing the baton to Pratibha Patil, the first woman President of India, Talking about his retirement plans, the former President says that he will teach and do research work. He wants to spend quality time with young people.