APJ Abdul kalam

By : Rajeev Sharma

No Indian president fired the imagination of the common man in this nation of a billion-plus as Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen (APJ) Abdul Kalam did. No president’s death evoked a tsunami of genuine grief across the country as Kalam’s death on July 27 did.

Kalam would have been 84 on Oct. 15, but he collapsed while delivering a lecture at the prestigious Indian Institute of Management (IIM) in Shillong, capital of the northeastern state of Meghalaya, on the fateful evening of July 27. He never recovered after that.

India’s 11th president (2002-2007) was known as “people’s president” and “missile man” — the former a tribute to his amazing mass appeal and connect with the common man, while the latter an acknowledgment of his crucial contributions to India’s satellite program and developing indigenously built guided and ballistic missile technology.

Abdul Kalam was the first ever scientist to become India’s head of state, who made stellar contributions to the country in both capacities. The life story of Kalam is the kind of stuff fairy tales are made of. He was born in a boatman’s family in Rameshwaram in southern state of Tamil Nadu. As a small child he would do odd jobs in the day (including that of a newspaper hawker) to sustain his studies and study under the light of a kerosene lamp in his humble home.

As the large family had only one kerosene lamp, the use of this precious commodity had to be rationed and the young Kalam was allowed to use it for two hours every night. But seeing his passion for studies, particularly mathematics, his parents allowed him to use the kerosene lamp for four hours.

Kalam had a dream of becoming a fighter pilot, a dream which he narrowly missed as he finished ninth in qualifying test conducted by the Indian Air Force while there were only eight positions available.

The IAF’s loss eventually became India’s gain as Kalam soared higher and higher in the Indian defense establishment. One of his first notable accomplishments when he began his career in 1960 as a scientist in Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) and designed a small helicopter for the Indian Army.

In 1969, Kalam’s career as a defense scientist took a higher trajectory when he was transferred to the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) where he was the project director of India’s first Satellite Launch Vehicle (SLV-III) which successfully deployed the Rohini satellite in near-earth orbit in July 1980.

From there on, Kalam quickly climbed the ladder of success. Kalam served as the chief scientific adviser to then prime minister and the secretary of DRDO from July 1992 to December 1999. India’s famous Pokhran-II nuclear tests were conducted during this period and Kalam played a key role as the chief project coordinator.

By now, Kalam had virtually become a household name. When presidential elections were due in July 2002, Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav stunned everybody by proposing Kalam’s name for the presidency. The then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was left with no option but to agree to his candidature. The rest, as they say, is history.

Kalam proved to be an unusual president. He was a daring, intrepid head of state the likes of whom India had never seen before. He was the first president to visit the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir and interact with the troops, go on a submarine sortie, fly a Sukhoi jet and visit the Siachen glacier, the world’s highest battlefield.

But none of these acts was as daring as flying out of Aizawl airport in northeastern state of Mizoram at night with the runway illuminated with lanterns and torches. This never-before and perhaps never-afterward kind of event took place a decade ago when Kalam insisted on flying back to New Delhi at night, instead of his scheduled departure next morning, simply because he had finished all his official engagements by then and there was work to do in New Delhi.

When the station head of IAF told him that Kalam’s desire could not be fulfilled as the Aizawl airport did not have night take-off facilities. Kalam insisted to fly out of Aizawl immediately and demanded to know whether the air force would wait till morning in case of an emergency. Kalam did not relent even when the officer came up with another technical difficulty that there would be problems if the plane had to return due to some unforeseen technical problem.

The station head had no choice but to comply as president of India also happens to be the supreme commander of the three armed services. President Kalam’s special plane finally took off at 9 p.m. with his entourage of 22 with the runway illuminated with lanterns and torches! He used to say: “Excellence is a continuous process and not an accident.” His another famous quote is: “You have to dream before your dreams can come true.”

He always practiced what he preached. These were some of the rare qualities that endeared him to the masses as well as the classes. The common man saw in him a living role model. Not surprising therefore that Kalam’s Twitter account will continue to remain operational. His followers have decided to keep his Twitter account running with the changed name “In Memory of Dr. Kalam.”

Some people are eternal. APJ Abdul Kalam belongs to this category.