A P J Abdul Kalam's Only Regret

Srijan Pal Singh





In 2014, we visited Mumbai to attend the fiftieth anniversary celebrations of a local college. It was a modest celebration, and A P J Abdul Kalam was happy to see that the college was catering to students from low-income families, giving them quality education at affordable fees.Kalam was greeted with a lot of cheering when he entered the hall.Through his speech he addressed the concerns of the youth who had come from challenging economic conditions.He spoke about his own life, his failures and his successes. He spoke of the great Nobel Laureate Mario Capecchi, a victim of the Second World War, who had lost most of his family in the war.He had to spend his childhood in an orphanage. But despite his difficulties, he persevered and went on to ... become a renowned scientist. At the end of his speech, Kalam was given a standing ovation. This was followed by a question-and-answer session. He answered each question with his usual wit and grace.
Suddenly , a young student of about twenty stood up to ask a question: “Sir, you have had so many successes.I am sure you had some failures too. You always say that you have built your successes over the lessons learnt from failures. I want to know something. Is there something that you could not do, and still regret not doing it?“ A P J Abdul Kalam took his time to think through the answer and finally replied, “You know, back home, I have an elder brother who is ninety-eight years old now. He can walk slowly , but steadily, and completely on his own. He has a little problem with his vision and hence there is always a need to keep the house well lit, especially in the night.
“Now you see, in Rameswaram, there are power cuts sometimes. Thus it becomes difficult for him to move about freely. So, last year I got a rooftop solar panel installed at home, with a good battery . When the sun shines, the panel gives power, and in the night the battery takes over the power supply . Now there is plenty of power all the time.
My brother is happy .
“When I see him happy ,I also feel happy. But I am also reminded of my own parents.Both of them lived for almost a hundred years and towards their later years they had difficulty seeing things well. Three decades ago, the power cuts were more frequent. Back then I could do nothing for them. There was no solar power. The fact that I could not do any thing to remove their pain is my greatest regret, something which will remain with me forever.“
The answer touched a chord in the hearts of everyone in the audience.Here was a person, more than eighty years old, who had achieved so much in life, but still had the compassion and the humility to speak publicly about his greatest failure. He was still bothered about failing his parents. How many of us think of such things?
I couldn't help but wonder when I had last stopped to consider my parents' situation, when I had tried to do anything to ease their burden.
(Courtesy: Penguin Books, `What Can I Give?' ­ Life Lessons from My Teacher, A P J Abdul Kalam.)

Source: Times of India, 28-07-2016

Humility, simplicity, compassion: What interactions with Dr Kalam taught me

The time I spent with Dr Kalam is no less than a legacy that I have inherited. We met for the first time during my IIM-A days in 2009. He was visiting our campus as co-faculty for a course in nation building and I was one of the few students in his class.

What followed were a series of interactions during the classes and a chance meeting with him after the course got over — and life took a 180-degree turn. One moment I was geared to go for this MNC job and the next moment I came face to face with a truth that was embedded in one simple question he asked: “So, Srijan, you have been gifted with the best education, blessed with high intelligence and you have acquired the much sought-after golden recognition. Don’t you think that it is now your responsibility to use all this not only for your own progress, but also for the progress of the nation and for solving the problems of the world? Wouldn’t that be doing true justice to your abilities?”

In what one would term as a snap decision, I had made up my mind. And thus, began my journey with my childhood idol.

From 2009 to 2015, I witnessed immense humility, simplicity, profound wisdom and the sheer spirit of giving to others unconditionally — the core values by which Dr Kalam lived his life.

I was part of the countless lectures he delivered and listened to his thoughts and ideas that he shared with people. We shared conversations during our many lunches, dinners and walks; and each of these associations ignited new thoughts and ideas in me. As I write this, I am reminded of all the brilliant thoughts he sparked and how each of those thoughts helped me to learn, evolve and transform. My learning with him was just not confined to mere ideas that we shared but also in making me a better human being for I witnessed not just a pragmatic boss but also an emotionally thoughtful human being.

One of the things that really inspired me was Dr Kalam’s sensitivity towards the people he called his friends. His love for friends and his thoughtfulness were commendable and taught me a lot about the strength of the bond of friendship. A very simple but touching incident that I have mentioned in my book – What Can I Give? Lessons from My Teacher, APJ Abdul Kalam – comes to my mind.

Back in 2014, Dr Kalam and I were visiting the Scottish city of Edinburgh, known world over for its research. As was his schedule during most of our trips, a series of visits were planned to various laboratories. One of the visits was to Anne Rowling Regenerative Neurology clinic headed by Professor Siddharthan Chandran. He showed us all the work being conducted in this small but cutting edge laboratory and we were quite impressed by what we saw.

As we were about to conclude our meeting, we came across the last researcher — a young lady from England. She was working on a very special technology to regenerate speech and her project was aimed at helping those who were suffering from brain degeneration leading to loss of the ability to speak over time.

The innovation she was working on to fix this problem was called voice banking which could be used to store a person’s voice and later be used in communicating with others. While we were all quite impressed, Dr Kalam had a very particular interest in the said technology. He asked a series of questions to understand more on this and left saying he would like to know further.

Unable to curb my curiosity over his keen interest in the voice banking, I asked him the reason for the same to which he replied, “I have a friend, a wonderful man whom I respect a lot. He was a great orator once but now he has a lot of difficulty in speaking fluently. I want to hear him speak beautifully again. You know who he is?”

Before I could reply, he answered his own question: ‘Vajpayee ji.’

It was extremely touching and endearing to see Dr Kalam’s love, and compassion for his dear friend, whom he hadn’t met for so long. Due to my schedule, I would often lose touch with my friends and disconnect. That incident taught me a valuable lesson about the strength of friendship and how it transcends geographical boundaries.

(The author is an IIM-A graduate who co-authored many books with Dr Kalam. This is an abridged extract of Srijan Pal Singh’s upcoming book to be released on July 27)

What made Kalam great: In the words of his classmate Sujatha

APJ Abdul Kalam was my classmate in the BSc course at Trichy’s St Joseph’s College. During lunch breaks in the big assembly hall, we used to banter until the bell rang for the lectures. I remember him from those times. He would not talk much then, and if someone poked fun, he would gently laugh it off. And he would not come with the rest of us to watch movies.

After our BSc,, when I joined the Madras Institute of Technology to study electronics, I saw him join the aeronautics course in the same year. We both shared a common passion for Tamil and I recall our frequent meetings on that count. I recall his interest in the songs of Subramania Bharathi (nationalist poet) and Tirukkural (Tirvalluvar’s omnibus of couplets). Right at that stage, it was clear that he wanted to accomplish something practical in the field of aeronautics or rocket science. Our professors (one German, one Indian) showed the way – and I think it was the first time in India. They made an engineless-glider and took it to the Meenambakkam airport – part by part – and put it all together again.  Then they used a winch to pull it and hoisted it like a kite in the sky. It caught the hot winds and soared. And so did our feelings in the college. Kalam played a role in that.

Professor Raghavachari, who taught us physics, was passionate about Tamil. He held a competition that invited essays in Tamil on science. Kalam and I took part, of course. Kalam’s essay was titled “We will build a plane”. Mine was on Infinity Mathematics, titled “Anantham.” He got the prize.

Kalam did not stop with his writing. Forget the plane. He built a rocket!

I lost touch with him for a few years after our MIT days. In the interval, he grew up under the supervision of figures such as Vikram Sarabhai, training in NASA. After I joined Bharat Electronics Ltd, I found opportunity to meet him on many counts for official work. He was a part of ISRO’s SLV rocket project. I could now see strong signs of hard work. There were people saying right then that he was destined to climb the ladder in the government hierarchy. Later, he moved to become the head of the DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organisation) at Hyderabad in the Department of Space. He successfully accomplished a series of missile projects: Prithvi, Agni, Akash, Nag et al. Then he became advisor to the prime minister and played a significant role in the stalled light commercial aircraft (LCA) project, pulling it finally out of the hangar and actually making it fly.

If I were to look back and compare ourselves with our batch mate, Kalam’s rise is manifold. None of us quite rose to become a Bharat Ratna. The main reason for his success was his dedication towards work, tireless labour and self-confidence.

When he was in the DRDO, I have taken part in his review meetings – and they were brief. He would ask a project head if a certain task was done. If it was delayed he never got upset. No shouting – but somehow he would make the person responsible for missing the deadline squirm in discomfort. When he was working 24/7/365, others were compelled to match up. He led by example.

His personal needs were few. He was a bachelor and a vegetarian with no “bad” habits. To top this he had a devout Muslim’s sense of good conduct. These kept him away from the temptations of a big office. In all of Tehelka’s tapes that exposed doings inside the government, he came out as a figure who stood in the way of corruption in high places.

I particularly recall one incident. When I went to Hyderabad for a meeting with him, some Russian technicians were visiting and there was a dinner at the Taj Banjara. I was invited as well. The Russians were gloating in the joy of having signed an agreement and forced a glass of vodka on Kalam, who avoided any intoxicant. He approached me quickly  and asked in an embarrassed tone, “What’s that in your hand?”.

“Water. Ice water, Kalam,” I replied.

“Give it to me,” he said.

In a flash he had taken my glass and thrust the vodka glass into my unsuspecting hands.

“Those guys simply don’t understand that I don’t drink,” he said.

In a while I heard them say “Cheers” – and a glass of ice water went up with the vodkas!

Kalam and I plan to write a book together. He said we could do one on India’s rocket science since the times of Tipu Sultan. “I am ready, Kalam. Are you?” I would ask him. “I am almost ready. Let us start next month,” he would say – everytime.

Now that he has retired, I expect him to write it – if only the Indian government, US universities, colleges, Lions and Rotary clubs, schools and social organizations would leave him alone!

Igniting minds

In the passing away of former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, India has lost not only a visionary scientist and an institution-builder, but also a staunch nationalist who was an inspirational figure for people across generations. Turning India into a developed country of the first world was his dream, and he set about making this a reality through words and deeds, first as scientist, then as the President, and later, till the very end, as an ordinary citizen. Kalam began as a civilian rocket engineer and metamorphosed into a missile technologist, but it is as the “people’s president”, as the first citizen who was accessible and who stopped to listen to the grievances of ordinary men and women that he won the love and affection of his countrymen. In the fields of civilian space and military missile technologies, Kalam put India on the world map by laying strong indigenous foundations for them. When India joined the exclusive club of spacefaring nations comprising the U.S., Russia, France, Japan and China on July 18, 1980, Kalam was the Project Director of the Satellite Launch Vehicle-3 in the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). Since then, India has joined the world leaders in satellite launches and space research.

Kalam’s tenure in the Defence Research and Development Organisation and as the director of the Defence Research and Development Laboratory (DRDL) at Hyderabad heralded immense achievements in missile technology; he was part of the team that envisioned India’s Guided Missile Development Programme. Projects such as the development of the Prithvi, Akash, Trishul and Nag missiles were undertaken. Kalam also insisted on the development of a strategic missile with re-entry technology, resulting in the Agni missile. He insisted that both ISRO and DRDO develop composites such as carbon-carbon, fibre-reinforced plastic, etc to make motor casings lighter so that the vehicles can carry a heavier payload. His consortium approach led to the indigenous development of phase shifters, magnesium alloys, ram-rocket motors and servo-valves for missiles. As scientific adviser to the Defence Minister, he helped conduct India’s nuclear tests at Pokhran in May 1998. But more than as a scientist and a technocrat, Kalam will be remembered for his tenure as India’s 11th president, when he moved the institution away from being merely formal and ceremonial in nature. He used the presidency as a platform to inspire youth, who were readily impressed by his earthy demeanour and discursive approach to public speaking. The missile man had his critics, but India’s most popular president leaves behind the legacy of more than one generation of inspired Indians.

Keywords: A.P.J. Abdul Kalam

the speaking tree - Philosopher-Scientist And A Great Inspiration

Maulana Wahiduddin Khan





A P J Abdul Kalam, former President of India, was a man of in tegrity . Intellectually, he was scientific in temper and morally , a very humble person. He was born into a poor South Indian family which could not even afford to pay his school fees.But he worked very hard and continued with his education, and consequently went on to become a highly respected aerospace scientist in the country .Abdul Kalam was not `born with a silver spoon in his mouth'; yet he was born with a great `incentive spoon' which was responsible for his tremendous success. His self-motivation and high ideals helped him, and he rose to the highest office of the country . Kalam's life has a very significant lesson, that is, that people's categorisation into rich and poor or haves and havenots is unrealistic. The real categorisation is that people are either ac tual haves or potential haves. Those who today apparently belong to the category of have-nots can convert their potential into actuality, and thus enter the category of haves.
Kalam once said that, “If a country is to be corruption-free and become a nation of beautiful minds, I strongly feel there are three key societal members who can make a difference. They are the father, mother and teacher.“
This statement is a correct analysis of nation-building, because a person develops his personality in his formative period, during which he is under the supervision of his parents and teachers. If these three members of society resolve to guide the child in the right direction, then within one generation the whol within one generation the whole situation of India will undergo a drastic change.
Regarding youth, Kalam said: “My message, especially to young people, is to have courage to think differently , to invent, to travel the unexplored path, discover the impossible and to overcome problems and succeed. These are great qualities that they must work towards.“ If we express these qualities in one word, it can be said that young people should make `excel lence' their goal; they should not accept anything less than striving for the excellent. In doing so, not only will they re ach great heights of success, but will also be able to reform society along constructive lines.
It is said that even amidst his tight schedule, Kalam g found time to put pen to paper, almost every day . This is a ve ry creative habit because if a person restricts himself only to routine office work, he will experience intellectual stagnation. However, if he makes time for reading and writing, his intellectual development will go on unhindered.
Kalam once also said: “India has a message for the world that religion could be transformed into a mighty spiritual force.“ This is without doubt a realistic statement, because India has traditionally been a country of high spiritual values. If India develops in spirituality, it will certainly become a lighthouse of spirituality for the world.
When Kalam was President, a reporter who was interviewing him was referring to him as “Your Excellency“.Kalam cut him short, saying, “Call me Kalam“. This is the key to Kalam's personality ­he was modest to the core.His message is: Be modest and you will achieve success.

I can get the youth to dream. They have fewer biases about society: APJ Abdul Kalam - 


One of your passions is the youth of this country. But is there any reason to assume that the youth is any different from the older generation? What make you optimistic about the youth?

 It’s when children are 15, 16 or 17 that they decide whether they want to be a doctor, an engineer, a politician or go to the Mars or moon. That is the time they start having a dream and that’s the time you can work on them. You can help them shape their dreams. Tomorrow if I address a group of youngsters and talk about the flag flying in my heart and how I will uphold the dignity of the nation, I can get them to dream. But if I talk to people who are 40, 50 or 70 plus, it will not go down that well. Also, the youth have fewer biases about their society as compared to the grown-ups. 


Which of the former Presidents inspired you the most?

 I believe every President before me contributed something in their respective fields — some in politics, some in education and others in social services. At Rashtrapati Bhawan I found a letter from our first President, Rajendra Prasad to Nobel laureate Sir C V Raman in 1954 asking him to come to Rashtrapati Bhawan to accept the Bharat Ratna. Anyone would have jumped at the offer. Then I read Sir CV Raman’s reply to the invitation. It said, “Dear Mr President, I thank you for giving me such a great honour, but I have a problem. I am guiding a scholar and he is submitting his thesis in December-January. I have to sign the thesis and won’t be able to accept the invitation.” -

A P J Abdul Kalam’s ten inspiring quotes

“Don’t take rest after your first victory because if you fail in second, more lips are waiting to say that your first victory was just luck.”

 “All Birds find shelter during a rain. But Eagle avoids rain by flying above the Clouds.” 

“Failure will never overtake me if my determination to succeed is strong enough”.

 “Man needs difficulties in life because they are necessary to enjoy the success.”

 “If you want to shine like a sun. First burn like a sun.”

 “It is very easy to defeat someone, but it is very hard to win someone.”

 “All of us do not have equal talent. But , all of us have an equal opportunity to develop our talents.” 

“Be more dedicated to making solid achievements than in running after swift but synthetic happiness.”

 “Thinking should become your capital asset, no matter whatever ups and downs you come across in your life.”

 “Without your involvement you can’t succeed. With your involvement you can’t fail. “ 

Jul 28 2015 : The Times of India (Delhi)

THE MAN WHO WON INDIA'S HEART

S Nambi Narayanan





My colleague, a karmayogi

When I got an interview call from from Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station (TERLS) in Thiruvananthapuram for the job of a technical assistant (design) in September, 1966, I knew precious little about the organization. A bunch of young people handpicked by Vikram Sarabhai were working out of an old church in the sleepy fishing village of Thumba in Thiruvananthapuram, with the common goal of making rockets.To know more, I went to a lodge called Indira Bhavan where some of the scientists were put up. As I was enter ing, a man in a pale blue shirt and dark trousers was coming down the stairs. I introduced myself as an applicant. He replied: “I am A P J Abdul Kalam, rocket engineer.“
Soon I found myself among the small group of men at the church with little resources and big dreams.Kalam, as my team leader, gave my first assignment -to make an explosive bolt. Our association started there, and continued till Kalam's end.He was a karmayogi. Without a family or any possession worth mentioning, he dedicated himself to work.
Life, for Kalam, meant setting goals and achieving them steadfast. Death, he never bothered about. Once, while I was doing an experiment on the inert behavior of a variety of gunpowder in low pressure, Kalam insisted on seeing it up close. He stood so close to catch the action that his famous nose touched the jar in which the gunpowder was to be ignited. According to theory , it would not ignite.
But a helper had forgotten to switch on the vacuum pump that would reduce the pressure in the jar. This I realised when the countdown had reached the final five seconds.I threw myself over Kalam and the two of us landed on the floor. Glass pieces flew in all directions like bullets. While I thanked God that neither of us was injured, Kalam stood up, dusted his trousers, and said: “Hey man, it did explode!“ Later I pursued liquid propulsion systems, while Kalam stuck to his love -solid propulsion. When I was heading a team of Isro scientists at the Viking engine joint venture in France in 1975, Kalam visited us and had kind words for us, though he was a hardcore votary of solid propulsion systems. On a personal level, too, Kalam was always helpful. This was the time when I was finding it difficult to get my six-yearold son into a decent Englishmedium school in France. I wanted to send him back to India. Kalam, visiting us in Vernon, offered to take my son back to India. He held the boy's hand through the journey till he was safely deposited at my sister's place.
Neither criticism nor praise moved Kalam. And Isro chairmen like Vikram Sarabhai and Satish Dhawan knew Kalam's vision and let him do what he wanted. At the core of India's first success with satellite launch vehicles was Kalam's single-minded pursuit.
The greatness of the man was his intellectual honesty . In one of our recent interactions, I told Kalam that he might not find everything in my upcoming book flattering. He said: “Then I will write the preface.“
That was not to be.
(Nambi Narayanan who was in charge of Isro's cryogenic engine project spoke to TOI's Arun Ram)