APJ Abdul Kalam was born in
1931 in a middle-class family in
Rameshwaram, Tamil Nadu, a
town well-known for its Hindu
shrines. His mother tongue is
Tamil. His father, a devout Muslim,
ownedboats which he rented
out to local fishermen and was a
good friend of Hindu religious
leaders and the school teachers
at Rameshwaram. APJ Abdul
Kalam mentions in his biography
that to support his studies, he
started his career as a
newspaper vendor.
This was also told in the book, A
Boy and His Dream: Three Stories
from the Childhood of Abdul
Kalam by Vinita Krishna. The
house Kalam was born in can still
be found on the Mosque street at
Rameswaram, abutting his
brother's curio shop. This has
become a point-of-call for
tourists who seek out the place.
Kalam grew up in an intimate
relationship with nature, and he
says in Wings of Fire that he
never could imagine that water
could be so powerful a
destroying force as that he
witnessed when he was six. That
was in 1934 when a cyclonic
storm swept away the Pamban
bridge and a trainload of
passengers with it and also
Kalam's native village,
Dhanushkodi.
Honours
He has received honorary
doctorates from as many as
thirty universities .[3] The
Government of India has
honoured him with the nation's
highest civilian honours: the
Padma Bhushan in 1981; Padma
Vibhushan in 1990; and the
Bharat Ratna in 1997. Kalam is
the Fourth President of India to
have been honoured with a
Bharat Ratna before being
elected to the highest office, the
other three being Sarvepalli
Radhakrishnan ,V. V. Giri and
Zakir Hussain. He is also the first
scientist and first bachelor to
occupy Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Referred to as the "People's
President", Kalam is often
considered amongst India's
greatest president going by a
winnnig poll conducted by news
channel CNN-IBN for India's Best
President.
Political views Something of
Kalam's probable views on
certain issues can be surmised
from positions espoused by him
in the past. His book "India
2020" strongly advocates an
action plan to develop India into
a knowledge superpower and
into a developed nation by the
year 2020. Kalam is credited with
the view that India ought to take
a more assertive stance in
international relations; he
regards his work on India's
nuclear weapons program as a
way to assert India's place as a
future superpower. Kalam's
belief in the power of technology
to resolve society's problems and
his views of these problems as a
result of inefficient distribution
of resources is modernistic. He
also sees science and technology
as ideology-free areas and
emphasizes the cultivation of
scientific temper and
entrepreneurial drive. In this, he
finds a lot of support among
India's new business leaders like
the founders of Infosys and
Wipro, (leading Indian IT
corporations) who began their
careers as technology
professionals much in the same
way Kalam did.
Inspiring Thoughts by Kalam
"Thinking should become your
capital asset, no matter whatever
ups and downs you come across
in your life."
"Thinking is progress. Non-
thinking is stagnation of the
individual, organisation and the
country. Thinking leads to action.
Knowledge without action is
useless and irrelevant.
Knowledge with action, converts
adversity into prosperity."
"When you speak, speak the
truth; perform when you
promise; discharge your trust....
Withhold your hands from
striking, and from taking that
which is unlawful and bad..."
"What actions are most excellent?
To gladdenthe heart of a human
being, to feed the hungry, to help
the afflicted to lighten the
sorrow of the sorrowful and to
remove the wrongs of injured..."
"All God's creatures are His
family; and he is the most
beloved of God who tries to do
most good to God's creatures."
"Away! Fond thoughts, and vex
my soul no more! Work claimed
my wakeful nights, my busy days
Albeit brought memories of
Rameswaram shore Yet haunt
my dreaming gaze!"
"I will not be presumptuous
enough to say that my life can be
a role model for anybody; but
some poor child living in an
obscure place in an
underprivileged social setting
may find a little solace in the way
my destiny has been shaped. It
could perhaps help such children
liberate themselves from the
bondage of their illusory
backwardness and
hopelessness?.."
"My worthiness is all my doubt
His Merit - all my fear- Contrasting
which my quality Does however
appear " "Be more dedicated to
making solid achievements than
in running after swift but
synthetic happiness". "Climbing
to the top demands strength,
whether it is to the top of Mount
Everest or to the top of your
career."
"English is necessary as at
present original works of science
are in English. I believe that in
two decades times original
works of science will start
coming out in our languages.
Then we can move over like the
Japanese".
"Great dreams of great dreamers
are always transcended".