Mumbai: The 11th president of India and an aerospace scientist, Mr APJ Abdul Kalam was born on 15 October 1931. In the middle of a lecture, Mr. kalam took some of his last breaths at a lecture, while teaching students due to cardiac arrest. He was the most celebrated president and loved by everyone in the country. Born and brought up in Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu, he studied physics and aerospace engineering.
Mr Abdul Kalam was an avid book reader. Mr Kalam’s full name was Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam. His father Jainulabdeen was a boat rover and an imam of a local mosque, his mother Ashiamma was a housewife.
In their childhood days Mr. kalam lived a poor life, he had to sell newspapers to supplement his father’s income.
The family was said to possess a large amount of ancestral wealth but with increasing, development and construction of bridges the ferry boat business failed. He was the youngest in the family, amongst his 4 brothers and 1 sister.
“For great men, religion is a way of making friends; small people make religion fighting too.” -A.P.J. Abdul Kalam.
He always had a keen eye on mathematics and physics. Mr Kalam was the bright and most hardworking student in the class, though his grades always remained average. After schooling in Schwartz school Mr. kalam went to St. Joseph College and graduated in physics. He then went to madras to pursue aerospace engineering. One of his first wishes was to become a fighter pilot but missed getting selected by one position.
Religion has a very important place in Mr Kalam’s life. His father being an imam of a mosque made sure the Islamic culture has been instilled in their kids’ minds. According to Mr. kalam priests from all three religions used to have meetings to discuss religious issues at their house, which gave early exposure to young Abdul kalam. Mr. Kalam was a proud Islam follower. He observed fasts during Ramadan and read Namaz every day. He had realized that Islam always taught to respect each person and their religions.
Along with been well versed with Islam religion, Mr. kalam has also learnt Sanskrit language and read Bhagwat Geeta, plus he was vegetarian. BJP leader L.K. Advani once said that Mr. kalam was the best exemplar of the idea of India, who embodied the best of all cultural and spiritual traditions that signifies India’s unity in its immense diversity.
Mr. kalam after graduating from madras institute of Technology joined the Aeronautical development establishment of the Defense research and development organization. Later he was transferred to Indian Space Research Organization where he became the project director of India’s first satellite launch vehicle which successfully launched the Rohini satellite in near-earth orbit in July 1980.
For the period of July 1922 to December 1999 kalam was selected to serve as the chief scientific advisor to the prime minister and secretary of the defence research and development organization. Media coverage during this period made him India’s best-known nuclear scientist. In the year 2002, Mr Kalam was elected as the 11th president of India with a majority of 922,884 votes as against 107,366 votes of Lakshmi Sanghal. His term lasted till 25th January 2007.
Mr Kalam’s contribution to teaching the youth the importance of development but at the same time maintaining a balance between farming and other projects is remarkable. According to a statement mentioned in one of his books, he said that after a specific time the occupation of the whole world will divert to farming and that by seeing today’s condition one would have to first satisfy their food hunger in future.
Mr. kalam took some of his last breaths while delivering a lecture on ‘Creating A Livable Planet Earth’ in Shillong on 27 July 2015. Just five minutes into speech Mr Kalam collapsed and though he was rushed to a nearby hospital, he was declared dead on entering the hospital. The saddest day in the history of India when we lost a real gem to God’s might. He is still carved in our minds as the man behind the launch of powerful missiles like Agni and as the people’s President.
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