Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam
The philanthropic man of our country, Dr. APJ Abdul kalam , one of the most remarkable leader of contemporary India, is an extremely popular public figure.
His full name was Dr. Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul kalam.
He was a simple , down- to- earth man who believes in marrying the goodness of the human spirit with the power of technology for maximizing good for the human race.
He was born on 15 October 1931, in a Middle class Tamil Muslim family in Rameswaram.
He is the one who shows that birth not defines ones future.
KALAM'S FAMILY
Abdul Kalam's father Jainulabdeen was a boat owner and imam of a local mosque and his mother Ashiamma was a housewife and very helpful.
His father had nothing but courage.
EARLY LIFE
Abdul kalam was a simple boy living with his family in their ancestral home which was built in 19th century.
His home was on masjid street of Rameswaram.
His father was far from any luxury and gave his children everything they wanted.
Kalam's childhood life was safe, materially and emotionally.
The famous shiv mandir of Rameswaram was 10 minutes far from his home and in his locality, mostly Muslims were resides and few Hindus was also there who were their neighbours coincidentally.
In his locality, there was an old masjid and his father used to take him daily for evening namaz.
He was always fond of science and follows the principles of his father and believes the power of almighty which lead us to the path of truth.
EFFECT OF 2ND WORLD WAR
When Kalam was 10 year old, Second World War happened and war had almost reached their doorstep at Rameswaram.
It was a difficult period for his family.
Everything was a rarity and in short supply.
FREE TUITION AT 5 A.M.
Abdul kalam would get up at four in the morning to go to his teacher Sri Swamiyar for learning mathematics.
He was a unique mathematics teacher and would take only 5 students for free tuition in a year.
He had a stiff condition for all his students, which was that they should come to his class at 5 a.m. after bathing.
His mother helped him to get him up and help him to bath and get ready to go for the tuition.
After coming from tuition, his father would be waiting for him to take him for Namaz and to learn the ' Koran Sharif' at the Arabic school.
NEWSPAPER BOY
He would walk 3 kilometers to the Rameswaram Road Railway Station to collect the bundle of newspapers which would be thrown out from the passing Dhanushkodi Mail.
He would pick up the newspapers and run around Rameswaram and be the first to distribute them in the town.
After school was over, in the evening again he would go around to collect dues from customers.
ABDUL KALAM'S EDUCATION
In his school days, kalam had average grades but was considered as a bright and hardworking student who had a strong desire to learn.
He take permission from his father to study in district headquarters, Ramanathapuram and took admission in Schwartz Higher Secondary School.
Now there is one instance on how Abdul kalam got interest in flight system.
When he was studying in 5th class in school at Rameswaram, there used to be a teacher, Sri Siva Subramania Iyer.
One day his teacher gave a lecture on how birds fly. He explains the whole mechanism of bird flying and at the end of the class, teacher asked whether they had understood or not what he had taught?
Many students said that they did not, and Abdul kalam was one of them.
Sri Iyer did not get upset by the response of the students but instead asked all of them to come to the seashore in the evening.
That evening, the whole class assembled at the seashore of Rameswaram.
Sri Iyer explained all things with a real life example. He was a great teacher.
He could give them a theoretical lesson coupled with practical examples available in nature
This is real teaching.
A good teacher with meticulous planning, prepares himself for teaching and the student for acquisition of knowledge.
One evening after the classes, kalam asked his teacher, " Sir, please tell me how to progress further in learning all about flight systems. "
He patiently explained him that he should complete his eighth class, and then go to high school, and further on to an engineering college to acquire education in the area of flight systems. If he could complete all his education with excellence, then he might do something connected with flight sciences.
Following his teacher's advice, he went to college and , studied physics, and at the Madras Institute of Technology, he opted for Aeronautical Engineering.
The advice of his teacher and the bird flying demonstration provided by his teacher gave him a goal and a mission for his life.
It proved to be a turning point in his life which eventually shaped his profession and transformed his life as a rocket engineer, aerospace engineer and technologist.
When kalam got admission in Madras Institute of Technology admission fee was one thousand rupees which was very much for him. So, her sister sold her bangles and gave him money.
In MIT, he was attracted by planes standing over there and after class, when all the students went to their room, kalam used to spend time with planes.
In 2nd yearvof his course, he chose the branch of Foreign Aeronautical engineering.
During third year of his course, he was assigned a project to design a low level attack aircraft together with six other colleagues.
He was given the responsibility of system design and system integration.
His design teacher Professor Srinivasan, who was then the director of MIT, was their guide.
After they had worked on the project for some time, professor Srinivasan reviewed the project and declared their work to be gloomy and disappointing.
Kalam asked for a month time to complete the task but Professor Srinivasan gave him one three days to complete. And warned him if he not complete this in there days then his scholarship will be stopped.
This gave him a big jolt. The scholarship was his lifeline. If it was stopped he would not be able to continue with his studies.
Kalam and his team work together round the clock. They didn't sleep that night and worked on the drawing board skipping their dinner.
On Sunday morning, Professor Srinivasan studied his progress and hugged him affectionately.
From MIT, he went to Hindustan Aeronautics limited ( HAL) ,Bangalore as a trainee.
From HAL, when he became Aeronautic engineer, life gave him two opportunities.
Two Opportunities in Kalam's life
Life gave him two opportunities, and both are incredible.
First one, is Air force and second, is DRDO in ministry of defense.
He applied for both and both called him for interview.
For Air force, he had to go to dehradun and for DRDO, he had to go to Delhi. And both are 2000km apart.
He spent one week in delhi and gave interview and after that he went to dehradun, where out of 25 candidates, he came in 9th position and first eight were selected. And a dream cherished over the years were shattered in an instant.
He trekked up to Rishikesh in the himalayas and spent some time there, trying to come to terms with what had happened.
Then he moves to Delhi, he got appointment letter in his hand and next day, he was appointed as senior scientific assistant with 250/- monthly salary.
After three years he was posted to Bangalore in ADE ( Aeronautical Development Establishment) . In first year in ADE, they planned to make a hovercraft and named it Nandi, addressed to the ride of lord Shiva.
Hovercraft completed soon but he got upset, when this was stopped due to personal controversies.
Career as a Scientist
In his scientist career, he did many things. He had many turning points in his career.
Let's see,one by one,
