This little story

While concluding his autobiography, in the sixteenth chapter of ‘Wings of Fire’, Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam has stated that the story narrated by him is of the period ending with the first Agni launch; but at the same time he also adds that India will make great strides if its population of 900 million people elects to think like a united nation.
He says that his is a story of the son of Jainulabdeen; a story of that boy who sold newspapers to help his brother; a story of that pupil who was reared by Sivasubramania Iyer and Iyadurai Solomon; a story of that student who was taught by teachers like Pandalai; a story of that engineer who was spotted by M. G. K. Menon and groomed by the legendary Prof. Sarabhai; a story of that leader who enjoyed support of a large team of professionals who were men of brilliance and dedication.
Who will not be moved to read the concluding part of his autobiography when he says that the story narrated by him will end with him. This he says because he has no inheritance in the worldly sense. He mentions that he has acquired nothing, built nothing and possesses nothing—no family, no sons and no daughters.
Before writing his autobiography, the great scholar, scientist, and father of rocketry, may not even have imagined that he would be repaid for his good and virtuous deeds, patriotism and dutifulness in the form of being elected as President of India—the first citizen of India.
Undoubtedly, what he says is indicative of the pain which very quietly expresses itself. It is a voice coming from the depth of his heart when he says that he has no sons, no daughters. There will be none to claim to be his lineal descendant in the future. But now under the changed circumstances, the greatest gift from God to him is the status he holds and, under the shade of which, there are millions and millions of young and grown-up children. The children of this country are his children.
His is an eternal story—a story which will be remembered by all children; it will dominate the minds of all till eternity. His story is of inspirational value and has no parallel; and the hero of this story will live for ever through the pens of writers, poets, thinkers and analysts. He will be made to remain among us with a slogan of ‘Kalam Zindabad’ (long live, Kalam!).

Dr. Kalam during the oath-taking ceremony

Dr. Abdul Kalam’s feelings and sensitivity to the feelings of others are revelation of the splendour and beauty of his divine nature which would need more of realization than of description. He has a storehouse of experiences and memories; and along with these his gift of status to our country in the field of missile technology is indeed eternal. He will continue to spread his splendour on the land of India and abroad like the gems which fill the surrounding with their shine. His achievements in the field of missile technology are as following—
India’s first rocket launch took place on 21 November 1963. It was a sounding rocket called Nike-Apache.
First Rohini-75 rocket was launched from TERLS on 20 November 1967.
Giving fulfilment to the vision of Prof. Vikram Sarabhai, the RATO system was successfully tested on 8 October 1972 at Bareilly Air Force station in Uttar Pradesh, when a high performance Sukhoi-16 jet aircraft became airborne after a short run of 1200 m., as against its usual run of 2 km., and thus approximately Rs. 4 crore in foreign exchange were saved.
The SLV-3 of India was launched successfully on 18 July 1980 from SHAR at 0803 hrs.
The second successful launch of SLV-3, SLV3-D1, took place on 31 May 1981.
IGMDP was launched on 27 July 1983.
After installing a make-shift launcher, the modified and extended range Devil missile was fired on 26 June 1984 to flight test the first indigenous Strap-down Inertial Guidance system.
The first launch of the Missile Programme was conducted on 16 September 1985, when Trishul took off from the test range at Sriharikota (SHAR).
Prithvi was launched at 11-23 hrs. on 25 February 1988. It was an epoch-making event in the history of rocketry in the country.
The Agni missile of India was successfully launched on 22 May 1989 at 0710 hrs.
Before these the Akash missile had already been launched successfully.
Truly these missiles are indicative of the genius of Dr. Kalam. And along with these the Indian Rocket Society and Science Research Centre established by him for performance in the field of science, and light and cheap polio callipers introduced by him in the Nizam Medical Institute of Hyderabad, which have proven to be a boon to polio-sufferers, and a machine, which is in process, to prevent heart attacks, also speak of his being a versatile genius.
While valuing the unparalleled contributions of Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, this great nation honoured him with Padma Bhooshan award on 25 January 1981, and with Padma Vibhooshan award on 26 January 1990. In continuation of a series of awards he was honoured with Bharat Ratna award also in 1997.
Pokharan-II
After having bagged the above achievements the next step of Dr. Abdul Kalam that baffled the entire world were two nuclear tests which took place in Pokharan. This feat in the field of nuclear technology incensed certain countries to such an extent that they began talking of imposing sanctions on India. But ultimately they had to give in and accept things as they were.
A rare example
It is a matter of great fortune for India that this country has, as President of India, a person who is truthful, honest, dutiful and sincere, a man of great determination and a fervent patriot. He is Ajaatashatru (a person who has no enemies—an epithet of Yudhishthira).
A few important incidents which prove his greatness—
He, along with his nomination paper for the post of President of India, deposited Rs. 15,000.00 from his bank account as security money, declaring that since it was his election, he must bear the expenses. He refused to accept any kind of monetary help from any political party.
(It is worth mentioning here that the General Secretary of the Congress, Shri Motilal Vohra, had deposited Rs. 15,000.00 on behalf of Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. By refusing to accept this kind of help, Dr. Kalam established an example.
During his oath-taking ceremony he made the one hundred schoolchildren also, who had gathered there from different parts of the country, participate in the programme and met them all without any hesitation.
His kith and kin, his near relations, his friends—be they Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs or Christians—all had come to attend the programme of his oath-taking ceremony. They were all suitably honoured and the expenses on their boarding and lodging and the expenses on their journeys—to and fro—were all borne by Dr. Abdul Kalam himself.
While taking the oath he expressed his gratitude towards everyone in the country, and resolved to bring development to this country in every field of life.
Having reached the Rashtrapati Bhawan, he met everyone with great simplicity—be they employees holding lowest ranks, or officers of highest ranks. He also established an ideal of humanitarian aspects of life by exhibiting simplicity in his dealings with everyone.
Having gone to pay tributes to great personages like Mahatma Gandhi and some other late Prime Ministers on their Samadhi, he untied and tied his shoelaces and refused to allow anyone to do it for him
He decreased the number of staff working in the Rashtrapati Bhawan in accordance with the requirement. The employees working in the Rashtrapati Bhawan were one thousand in number.
He set up an example by making a tour to Gujarat on 12 and 13 August 2002. He gave a patient hearing to the problems of the riot victims and talked to them directly without caring for any protocol. He immediately issued orders for their rehabilitation and asked the responsible authorities to do the needful for them.
He went to the house of Father of missile technology, his mentor and great scientist Prof. Vikram Sarabhai and paid a visit to his wife and, at the end of the tour, went to Bhuj and Kachchh and met the earthquake victims. He supervised their rehabilitation and ordered the authorities to act expeditiously. He also talked to the children there directly and issued instructions for suitable education for them.
Dr. Abdul Kalam Sahib has a dream of re-establishing India as the Guru of the entire world by the end of next twenty years.
He remembers with great reverence the saints and sages who have kept alive the culture and pride of this great nation.
He has visited the villages, cities and towns of India, evaluated the circumstances people are living in, studied the problem of rise in population and given valuable suggestions with regard to cutting down the extraordinary growth in population, and has also given a message to the people of India to become self-reliant in connection with foodgrains, water resources, education and defence matters.
He realizes the plight of those in distress and plays a positive role in attracting the attention of the government and citizens of India to come forward and help solve their problems.
For all these virtuous deeds which are inspirational as well, he will be remembered till eternity.
Dr. Kalam! May you live for thousands and thousands of years, and may each year of your life be of fifty thousand days.

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