Imagine a kid who is
from small village who belongs to a poor family, supports family by selling
newspapers but has a strong desire to learn. Even though he had no money it did
not stop him from dreaming big. All he did was dream big and worked hard to follow
his dream. His dream was to become a fighter pilot. But he missed it. That did
not stop him! He goes on to become a scientist and eventually President of
country. He makes billions of people
realize power of “DREAM”. Inspires them to follow their dream, work hard and
make their country proud.
Does this scenario
remind you of someone? Does he inspire you to reach your goal? Does his story
make you believe that dreams can come true?
Yes, it is the story of
none other than Bharath Ratna Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kalam!
Avul Pakir Jainulabadeen
Abdul Kalam was born on 15th October 1931 in Rameshwaram. His
father was a boat owner and imam of
local mosque and mother was a housewife.
Kalam was the youngest of four brothers and one sister in his family. He spent
hours studying and worked especially hard on Mathematics. He had a vision to
learn ; seek knowledge. He graduated in Physics in the year 1954 from St.
Joseph’s College. Moved to Madras in 1955 to study Aerospace Engineering in
Madras IIT. He was close enough to his dream of being fighter pilot but lost
because he was qualified 9th while there were only 8 posts available
in IAF.
Well known as “Missile
Man” of India Dr. Kalam has contributed so much for India. He was well known
for his passion and contribution to science, especially nuclear and space
science. He was part of INCOSPAR committee where he worked under renowned space
scientist Dr. Vikram Sarabhai. He was part of projects by ISRO like Rohini, PSLV, SLV-III. He also worked as
Chief Scientific Adviser to the Prime Minster and Secretary of Defense Research
and Development Organization. He worked as a part of nuclear test. He headed
the IGMDP to develop five missiles – Prithvi,
Agni, Trishul, Akash, Nag. Dr. Kalam envisioned the concept of joint
partnership which led to the formation of BrahMos AeroSpace between India and
Russia. Thus his contribution to the
Science field was immense.
Dr. Kalam was not just
a scientist but a president, leader, contributor, teacher, author, and
humanitarian. He led a simple life compared to other political leaders. He was
well known as “People’s President”. He spent most of time with children during
his presidency and even after presidency. He wanted to be remembered as a
teacher rather than President or scientist.
Dr. Kalam Sir is among
people who inspire me. The reason being he was a great teacher. His
autobiography “Wings of Fire” made me believe with perseverance and zeal
towards dream one can succeed. During the years when Kalam Sir was president, it
always made me happy seeing him on TV or reading about him in newspapers. Those
days many people did not had access to Internet. Shimoga, where I lived, had an
engineering college called JNNCE (I did not know I would be study engineering
in same college there after school ) who organized a camp to invite children so
as to make them learn how internet can help studies, how it works. I remember
we were separated into groups and made to sit in front of computers in
parallel. The first thing we were guided to do was to write a letter to Kalam Sir.
It was supposed to be a template made ready by organizers. All we had to do was
copy paste it and write our names at end and send it. I believe most of
children including me were excited that their letter would reach the President
of India.
After 2 to 3 years
after the computer camp Dr. Kalam even visited Shimoga. But I couldn’t be a
part of it. All I could do was watch the news channels say the same and read
about Kalam Sir in newspaper.
I couldn’t believe it
when I heard about demise of Kalam Sir. I was like how could a person who
taught India to dream leave so soon? How could a person who set a vision of “INDIA
2020” could leave before it happened! I was shell shocked so was rest of India.
I couldn’t hold my tears. India had lost a very precious gem that day.
Some of quotes which I
still love by Dr. Kalam are :
"Dream is not that which you see while sleeping it is something that does not let you sleep."
"Dream, Dream, Dream Drams transform into thoughts and thoughts result in action."
"If you want to shine like sun first burn like sun."
"If you fail, never give up because F.A.I.L. means "first Attempt In Learning"
End is not the end, if fact E.N.D. means "Effort Never Dies"
If you get No as an answer, remember N.O. means "Next Opportunity".
So Let's be positive. "
"All of us do not have equal talent. But, all of us have equal opportunity to develop our talents."
"It Is Very Easy To Defeat Someone, But It Is Very Hard To Win Someone”
Dr. Kalam did till very end what he always loved and best at , i.e.
passing on knowledge to children as a teacher. He was lecturing students at
Indian Institute of Management, Shillong. In
an interview before so many years he said, “If the people remember me as a good
teacher, that will be the biggest honor for me…,”
Dr. Kalam Sir didn’t leave us in spirit, he lives in the heart of millions
today. His quotes and his life still stands as an inspiration. If every Indian
works towards the path he has set us, the dream of “India 2020” can be
achieved. So let’s work towards our
dream, make Dr. Kalam vision true and make India Proud!
Keep
Smiling J
Sachin
Prabhu B
This blog post is written for a campaign by BEE
books who recently released collection of memoirs on Abdul Kalam entitled “Pupils’ President” edited by Satyam
Roychowdhury :
