It is not every day that you find a true patriot of the country. Someone who has served the country throughout his life and even after. APJ Abdul Kalam, the missile man of India, is one of those rare gems that was born on this day 85 years back.
Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam was native to the city of Rameswaran, Tamil Nadu. Early on since his childhood, Kalam saw his father, the imam of the village mosque, and the head priest of the Ramanathaswamy temple converse with each other on politics, religion and spiritual topics. These sittings imbibed the respect towards dialogue and every religion in the young Kalam and even decades later, when he became the President of India, his main motto was to foster peace and knowledge upon the entire country.
Kalam grew up to be a scientist and with his particular leanings towards physics, he soon found his passion in physics and aerospace engineering. He quickly rose up the ladder and became the science administrator at Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) and Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). Involved in the major missile development projects then in the country, he came to be known as ‘The Missile Man of India’. Under his competency and command, India launched various successful projects like Pokhran-II, India’s first indigenous Satellite Launch Vehicle (SLV-3) which successfully injected the Rohini satellite in the Earth orbit in July 1980 and many more.
For his unparalleled contribution to India’s space dreams, Kalam received Padma Bhushan in 1981, Padma Vibhushan in 1990 and the highest civilian award Bharat Ratna in 1997. Making lasting strides in space, he entered the political scenario when the then ruling party BJP and the opposition Congress, collectively elected him as the 11th President of India on July 25, 2002. He served the post till July 25, 2007 during which he came to be known as People’s President owning to his brilliant tenure at the office. Although he had won the elections by more than eight hundred thousand votes, he left the office and returned to a civilian life where he carried his teachings and wrote some of the best books – Wings of Fire, Ignited Minds: Unleashing the Power within India and India 2020. Kalam’s following only grew with the years to come.
Unfortunately, the phoenix had to return to its ashes on the fateful day of July 27, 2015. Kalam passed away at the age of 83 due to cardiac arrest in Shillong while giving a lecture at IIM where he was a visiting professor. Although the body has passed away, his spirit lives on, especially in the youth of the country towards whom he had a special affection. He mobilized a generation of young adults to overcome their obstacles and march India towards the superpower it could be. He showed various political parties that a true citizen is an Indian first, not Hindu or Muslim or Christian. He told a story that is worth retelling again and again. Hence, on this day, everyone from the Prime Minister to the Post office boy have mourned his death and paid tribute.
Tributes to our former President, the person who captured the imagination of every Indian, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam on his birth anniversary.
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) October 15, 2016
And even though it has been a year since the missile man of India has fallen, the other minds that he has ignited will definitely fly with wings of fire and rise a brighter tomorrow for the India of 2020.
Watch how Abdul Kalam wanted to be remembered –
