This is how Dr APJ Abdul Kalam touched lives of #AamAadmi

Former President, top scientist, Bharat Ratna, these are just some of the titles that come before the name of Dr AJP Abdul Kalam, who passed away on Monday while delivering lecture at IIM Shillong.

Born on October 15, 1931 in a family of a boat owner in Tamil Nadu’s Rameshwaram, Kalam survived all hardship to grow big in life. He distributed newspaper at one to time to support his family and education.

After pursuing graduation in Physics from Madras University, AJP Abdul Kalam decide to take up Aerospace Engineering as he then desired to become a fighter pilot. But the destiny had some bigger plans for him. Traversing through his career journey at the DRDO, ISRO, Chief Scientific Advisor to the Prime Minister in 1992, the Pokhran nuclear test, he was ultimately elected as India’s 11th President in 2002.

And what Kalam will always be remembered for is, a President who brought people to the Rashtrapati Bhawan and this is what made him the ‘People’s President'.

Once the 83-year-old had said, “It is very easy to defeat someone, but it is very hard to win someone.” And certainly it’s his inspiring words through which he rules over a million hearts.

Abhishek Sharma, a software developed, shared on Quora, “Once, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam rejected the suggestion to put broken glass on the wall of a building that needed protection. Why? Because broken glass would be harmful for birds! This happened when Dr Kalam was with the DRDO and his team was discussing options to secure the perimeter of a building that needed protection. Dr Kalam reportedly said, “If we do that, birds will not be able to perch on the wall.”

The other instance is when Quora user Naman Narain drew a sketch of Dr Kalam and sent it to the President. To his surprise, the President sent him a thank you card, with a short handwritten message and personalised with his signature.

At a convocation ceremony of IIT (BHU) Varanasi, Dr Kalam was the Chief Guest. There were five chairs on the stage, the centre one being for him, the other four designated for the top university officials. Noticing his chair being bigger in size than the others, Dr Kalam refused to sit on it and offered the Vice Chancellor to sit in stead. Immediately, another chair was made available for the ‘People’s president.’

Another action that displays down-to-earth demeanour of Dr Kalam is that during his first visit to Trivandrum as the then President, he was entitled to invite anyone as the “Presidential Guests” to Kerala’s Raj Bhavan. And as Dr Kalam had spent a significant time as a scientist in Trivandrum, he invited a road-side cobbler – who was quite close to him during his time in Kerela; and so was the owner of the small hotel where Dr Kalam would often have his meals. Can you ever imagine any other politician or a celebrity of his stature inviting a cobbler and a small business owner as his/her most prestigious guests?

Sourav Ganguly, who received the Padma Shri from Dr Kalam in 2004, recalls instances of the Indian Cricket team's interactions with the former President after finishing runners-up in the 2003 World Cup in South Africa. "I remember he wished the team. I remember Anil Kumble asked him about his subject. He knew little about cricket and we tried to explain to him how 11 men move around a cricket ball. But whenever we met him we realised that his world and thinking was different. He has become the President of India but his thought process is different from the others," said Ganguly, regarding India’s missile man as a visionary.
(Image: economisty.com)
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