“Dreams float on an impatient wind, a wind that wants to create a new order. An order of strength and thundering of fire.” This is a line taken from a poem written by Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, 11th President of India. In last five years of public life, this man has taught young India some valuable tips of ‘How to dream and How to fulfill the dreams’.
In 2002, India made an unorthodox choice for the post of president by electing a rocket scientist to become the Head of the State. Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam, who was nicknamed as Missile Man of India, had just retired from the country’s space and defense research programs and the ruling National Democratic Alliance government put forward his name for the presidency in the July election.
Kalam won a landslide, and on July 25, 2002, Chief Justice of India B.N. Kirpal in the Central Hall of Parliament swore in Dr Kalam as the 11th President of India. Now, after five years this is the time to go…
In his tenure as president of the country, Kalam’s stature has stretched beyond anybody’s thoughts and achieved important milestone in Indian public life. He is not a political leader, he is not a business tycoon or any celebrity but still people talk about him and love to hear him. One can have little doubt that if Kalam had to fight a general election he would struggle.
He would not fit in with the caste matrix of the country, he would certainly not have the financial resources, and even his religion might actually work against him. But, Kalam’s very ineluctability in some parts of the country makes him eminently appealing to the rest of the country. In this age, President Kalam is more than just another middle class hero. He symbolizes the hopes and ambitions of an emerging India, a new age guru for a new India.
Kalam actually is more than just a representative of middle class India. He represents a more universal value system, one that many of us recognize is unattainable, but which nevertheless is enormously attractive. His remarkable personal integrity makes him a shining representative of a Gandhian-like lifestyle, which we can’t expect from the political leaders now.
Kalam, by virtually rejecting the trappings of power even within the lavishness of Rashtrapati Bhavan, restores a sense of belief in a certain old world value system. He gained the respect of Gandhi style of living despite of having the hairstyle of a rock star because he has the mind of a scientist. This is because he is the hero of younger India as well as of the old generation too.
Indeed, it is the manner in which Kalam has dramatically changed our sensitivity of the presidency that make it incumbent on the political class not to lose out on the opportunity to build on his legacy.
He is the man of achievements and this is too exhausting to track Dr Abdul Kalam’s achievements till date. Kalam is the undisputed father of India’s missile program and breathed life into ballistic missiles like the Agni and Prithvi to bring some of our neighboring countries well under India’s missile range.
He is a great academician as he was conferred with the Degree of Doctor of Science (D.Sc. Honoris Causa) by 30 universities/academic institutions. He has been awarded Padma Bhushan in 1981, Padma Vibhushan in 1990 and Bharat Ratna in 1997.
He looks like untiring and still dreaming of making India into a technological superpower. Kalam’s advises young India to think big and convert the dreams into thoughts.
He says:
We are a nation of a billion people and we must think like a nation of a billion people. Only then can we become big.
On the literary front, He showed the world that in conceptualizing the ideas for development and progress lied in his brain. Four of his books Wings of Fire, India 2020-A Vision for the New Millennium, My journey and Ignited Minds-Unleashing the power within India, have been translated in many Indian languages.
He is in no mood to sit and relax after leaving the Raisina Hills. He already has some plans to work on teaching assignments that would send him out of Delhi for at least 20 days a month. The assignment work will start right from July 26. He has tied up with as many as five institutions across the nation as visiting faculty.
This is a clear indication that he may perhaps remain as busy as during his tenure as the President of India. He made the President’s house well connected with the common people of India. According to him, his biggest achievement as President was to open the Rashtrapati Bhavan to people. Almost a million people visited the President’s house during his tenure.
He said:
I was born a common man and am happy to be going back among common men. I will miss the gardens but I can feel it if I close my eyes, wherever I am.
Kalam is a good human being with a soft heart inside. He has become the most distinguished personality of India with the unique honor of a devout Muslim, he prays twice a day. At the same time, he is also a ‘Ram Bhakt’ and plays the ‘Veena’. He loves the Shri Raga and loves to writes poetry in Tamil.
He loves to see India as a self-dependent country in every front in the future. He is clever, sensitive, amazingly creative and, above all, a soft-spoken patriot. He is India’s answer to Western technological arrogance and brilliance. He loves to dream and better knows how to fulfill the dream. He loves young India and India loves him a lot.
Children call him ‘Chacha Kalam’ and Kalam calls them as the future of the nation. He never forgets to advise them to become political leaders to lead the country from the front. For your loving inspirations all the time, India salutes you. We Indians love you…
