Dr. Sudershan Kumar
The journey of young Aval Pakir Jainlabdeen Abdul Kalam commenced from Rameswarn a small town with majority of Hindu population and sprinkling of Muslim and Christian communities. This birth place of Kalam was an amalgamation of peace, tranquility and harmony among the three communities sine time immemorial. Their mutual trust and harmony was further strengthened by three eminent personalities of the town viz A P Jainulabadin (Kalam’s father) an Imam of mosque, Pakshi Lakshmana Sastry, the head priest of Ramanathaswamy, the Hindu temple and father Bodal of church facilitated by the special bond of friendship between the three of them. Their frequent mutual and amicable discussions about their land acted as the pioneer of mutual trust among the community. This early exposure had convinced Kalam that solution to a myriad of issues lay in dialogue and cooperation among the country’s religious social and political leaders. Moreover, Kalam was convinced that the respect for others’ faith was one of the key corner stone of Islam. His quote that for great men religion is a way of making friends and for petty people a fighting tool, echoes his thought aptly. Dr Kalam was an embodiment of Indianness representing Muslimhood driven by Indian culture and heritage. Subsequently he moved to Saint Joseph College Tiruchirappalli then affiliated with Madras University for graduation and then to Indian Institute of Technology Madras(new Chennai) for completion of his degree in Aeronautical Engineering. An embodiment of a great visionary and a dreamer, he later joined the Indian Space research organization (ISRO) and worked on the most important project then, the Space Launch Vehicle (SLV-3). He successfully deployed Rohini satellite near earth’s orbit. Later on he joined Defence Research and development organization where he worked in DRDL. Hyderabad on one of the most prestigious Projects named Integrated Guided Missile Development Program (IGDMP). This IGMDP was sanctioned on July 26, 1983 with Dr Kalam as its chief executive. The vision and mission of this program was to obtain self sufficiency in missile technology. As the most ambitious and strategic project it brought together country’s industries, academic and scientific communities, R&D laboratories and the services in giving shape to country’s strategic, indigenous development. With his clear vision, innovative thinking and proactive approach he could provide the nation self reliance in critical missile technology, thus becoming the pioneer of the missile technology in the country. It is a well acquainted fact these missiles even have their usage and description in the Vedas and great Indian epics. . The warriors of that time did use ASTRA’s the present day missiles loaded with weapons of mass destruction(WMD) in various forms. These have been described in Hindu Granths namely Mahabharata and Ramayana. But to prevent these deadly weapons falling in to the hands Demons (present day anti social elements/non state actors) this high end and critical technologies were hidden and details were not available in religious literature. Moreover various Mantras were recited to generate sound vibrations, which were sufficient enough for their activation and release. This can be correlated with present day’s mission control software of missile. When Kalam took over the reign of this IGDM programme, the technology was not available in India. The British during their colonial rule in India not only decimated the age old education system further imposed their western culture in the country. Western nations had put all sort of restrictions for transfer of technology to developing countries there by imposing missile technology control Regime (MTRC). Through this strategic IGMDP, Kalam was instrumental in making India self sufficient in development and production of a quiver of missiles like surface to air, surface to surface , sea to air and sea to surface missiles. Notably among them were Prithvi, Agni series, Nag, Akash and other anti tank missiles. For accomplishing this arduous task he had roped in nearly 800 industries. His forward vision helped India to attain self sufficiency in missile technologies. Thus he was commonly known as “Missile man of India”. Besides Dr.Kalam also participated in Pokharan-II nuclear tests and thus played a key role along with R Chidambaram in initial tests and design of nuclear fission and fusion device. This changed the world order and India emerged as powerful nuclear weapon state. Dr Kalam brought dignity to whatever he did, whether being a political figure, a scientist, a writer or an inspirational speaker. Dr Kalam became the 11th President of democratic Republic of India on 25th July, 2002 and was third president to have been honoured with Bharat Ratana, the earlier two being S.Radhakrishnan(1954) and Dr Zakir Hussian(1963). The toughest decision he took during the period of his Presidency was the signing of office of profit bill. Kalam also supported the need of uniform civil code keeping in mind the population of country. Apparently and rightfully he was entitled as the youth icon at the age of 70’s owing to his passion and instinct for interaction with young minds and instilling in them the perseverance, confidence to dream big and achieve it. Even after relinquishing the office of scientific adviser he made it a point to interact with young minds especially school children. He also set the target of meeting nearly 100,000 children in a span of two years. During his tenure as President of India, he used to receive hundreds of e-mails daily and ensured to reply all of those in spite of his very busy schedule. His outreach among the masses defied all walls of caste, religion, region or creed. His popularity among the students and the youth was facilitated by his openness and easy approachability.Young minds were generally inspired by his slogan dream, dream and dream.Dr Kalam’s passion for teaching was so intense that after relinquishing the office of President he immediately joined as visiting Professor of Indian institute of Management (IIM) Shillong, IIM, Ahmedabad, IIM Indore, fellows of Indian institute of Science and adjunct in many academic and research institutions.
His words “I am not a handsome guy but I can give my hand to someone, who needs. Beauty is in the heart, not in face” very aptly reverberates his love and compassion for the underprivileged. As a simple and great man he changed the life of many polio patients, gave money from his own pocket to the needy and the downtrodden. In 1998 along with cardiologist Soma Raju, Kalam was instrumental in development of low cost coronary stent for heart patients and also designed a suggested tablet computer for health care of rural areas. This tablet was also named as Kalam Raju tablet.
Steeped into selfless service towards the nation, in the year 2012, he launched a program for the youth India “What can I do” with the central theme of eradication of corruption from society. His charismatic aura and motivational speeches have inspired many. Even the author of this article had the opportunity to interact with him at many occasions during his tenure as Secretary DRDO, President of India and afterwards till his death. Each meeting with Dr Kalam, instilled in the author the motivation to take up difficult challenges and evolve strategies for their completion as Dr Kalam one qouted “Do not rest after your first victory, because if you fail in second, more lips are waiting to say that your first victory was just luck.” He always wanted to be remembered as a teacher and ironically he died doing what he loved the most. He once said “one is blessed if one can die working standing tall with out long drawn ailing good byes should be short, really short.” Dr. Avul Pakhir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam died on 27th July 2015 due to cardic arrest while delivering lecture to students at IIM Shillong. The pen fumbles to write about the vast achievements and life work of Dr Kalam, who was an epitome of knowledge, perseverance, humility, simplicity, but on his birth anniversary, a tribute to this great son of India is imperative to sensitize and motivate more young people. His life will remain as a source of inspiration for generations to come. The author however feels that the real tribute to this great son of India would be to follow the path he had shown to every one to transform this country in to the. superpower of new Millennium.
(The author is former Director General DRDO & Special Secretary MOD GoI)
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