APJ Abdul Kalam’s personality was such that whoever met him or whoever saw him, he learned to dream. He was a great thinker, writer and scientist and also a good human. The journey from selling newspapers to becoming president has influenced crores of Indians. Every Indian people is proud of him.
Today is the birthday of APJ Abdul Kalam. On this day, 15 October, Kalam Saheb was born in the year 1931. Today, of course, we remember him as a favorite teacher, the best President of the country, a brilliant scientist and the most important person but the journey of his life has not been so easy. He struggled a lot in the life and achieved success.
“Your best teacher is your last mistake.”
“Dreams are not those which comes while we are sleeping, but dreams are those when you don’t sleep before fulfilling them.”
“To succeed in your mission, you must have single-minded devotion to your goal.”
The personality of APJ Abdul Kalam can not be limited to any one realm. He was the President of the country, a great thinker, a writer and a scientist. He was an important contributor in every field. APJ Abdul Kalam said, No matter what the circumstances are but must see dreams because dreams come true. He himself says about the dream, “dreams are not what we see sleeping, but dreams are those that do not let us sleep”
Journey from struggle to success
Abdul Kalam was born on 15 October in Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu. His family used to build boats. Kalam’s father used to rent the boat to fishermen. From childhood, Kalam’s eyes saw the dream of becoming something.
Shamsuddin, brother of APJ Abdul Kalam, needed a man who could help him get the newspapers from house to house, then Kalam took up this responsibility and also did the job of selling newspapers. Then a few days later he asked his father to go out of Rameshwaram to study and his father said that our love will not bind you nor will our needs stop you. If you stay here, your body will remain here but your mind will not.
After this, Kalam enrolled in St Joseph’s College, Trichy for intermediate studies in 1950. After this, he did B.Sc. Then suddenly he felt that he should not have done B.Sc. His dream was something else. He wanted to become an engineer. After doing B.Sc, he decided that now somehow he will take admission in Madras Institute of Engineering.
It was Kalam’s faith and hard work that he got admission. At that time the fee for aeronautical engineering was 1000 rupees. In order to pay the fees, his elder sister kept his jewelry in mortgages. After this, studies started but as time passed in college, their interest in planes started increasing. Now the idea of becoming a pilot came to heart. When he studied engineering, there were two paths in front of him. The first was the dream of becoming a pilot in the Airforce, which Kalam had seen, and the second was to become a scientist in the Ministry of Defense. Kalam preferred his dreams and left for North India from South India for pilot interview in the Air Force.
In the interview, Kalam Sahab answered every question, but when the results of the interview came, he came to know that life will take a more difficult test. Eight people were elected and Kalam Saheb’s number was ninth. He understood that the situation is going to be difficult. Kalam came to Delhi and started working as a scientist at one place, then his monthly salary was only two hundred and fifty rupees. Here he used to make aircraft. Then three years later the center of ‘Aeronautical Development Establishment’ was built in Bangalore and they were sent to this center.
After this, he was given the responsibility of making them indigenous hovercraft, which was considered very difficult. But Kalam also did it. He and his colleagues took the first flight in the Havercraft. Defense Minister Krishnamanan praised Kalam very much and said that now prepare even more powerful aircraft. He promised that he would do it but soon Krishnamanan was removed from the Ministry of Defense and Kalam could not show him the feat again.
‘Nike Apache’ first indigenous satellite
Subsequently, Kalam interviewed the ‘Indian Space Research Committee’. Here, he was interviewed and selected by Vikram Sarabhai. He was elected to the post of Rocket Engineer. Kalam’s dream got wings from here. He was sent to NASA. After returning from NASA, he got the responsibility to take India’s first rocket to the sky. He too fulfilled this responsibility. Then India’s first satellite ‘Naik Apachi’ took off. Rohini rocket took off and on the basis of indigenous rocket, India became recognized all over the world.
He received the Padma Bhushan of India in 1981. He received the Padma Vibhushan in 1990 and the Bharat Ratna in 1997. After Narayanan, APJ Abdul Kalam held the office of President and he held the post from 2002 to 2007. He was the most popular president. In the presidential election, he was pitted against Laxmi Sehgal, the revolutionary leader of the Indian freedom struggle and he was victorious in this one-sided contest. Abdul Kalam had the support of all political parties in the presidential election.
Then we lost a great man APJ Abdul Kalam, he died on 26 July 2015. May his soul always rest in peace.
