By Uma Purkayastha
Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, former President of India, breathed his last in Shillong on July 27 two years back while delivering his valuable speech to the students of IIM Shillong as a guest lecturer. He had started his speech when he suddenly collapsed on the dias.
The incident was no doubt unfortunate but at the same time, it proves his love for Shillong for which he crossed thousands of miles to reach the hill city at the eleventh hour of his life. His main object was to enlighten the students of IIM Shillong with his thoughts on, “Creating a livable planet earth”. It was mentioned in his speech as, ‘It seems, the man-made forces are as big a threat to the livability of earth as pollution’
Though Kalam was best known as the 11th President of India but his multifacet genius, his extraordinary contribution towards Science, (Aeronautical Science in special), his high philosophical thoughts are much greater than his political activities. He was more a scientist than a President, more a teacher than a political figure. Once he was asked by some of his personal secretary as what Kalam wanted to be remembered for; ‘The President of India’, ‘The Missile Man’ or a ‘Great Scientist’? The answer from Kalam was, “No. As a teacher only.”
Kalam could prove it by his death who spent even the last moments of his life in teaching the students of an educational institute like IIM Shillong. He was a born teacher who could earn love and respect of thousands of students from home and abroad.
Kalam’s 79th birthday was recognised as World Students’ Day by the United Nations. He was a recepient of Honorary Doctorate from 40 universities. He was entitled as ‘People’s President’ for his over whelming popularity.
After completing his tenure as the President of India, Kalam served as visiting professor in various esteemed institutes and universities of India. Punctuality was his foremost principle. He never wanted that students or audience should wait for him. He knew the meaning of time, and reconciled that not a single minute to be wasted, which is the first and foremost quality of a real teacher.
Kalam had an affectionate motherly heart for the common people. It is heard that during his last sojourn to Shillong, while coming from Guwahati by an escort car, he noticed that some escort with a pointed gun, had to remain in standing position in the runing car till he had reached Shillong. He felt uneasy and repeatedly expressed his displeasure saying he did not want any comfort or safety at the cost of other’s pain.
Despite being a pious Muslim, he learnt Sanskrit, and was well versed in ‘Srimad Bhagawat Gita’. In 1997, he was honoured by the ‘Indira Gandhi Award’ for National Integration.
Kalam maintained some speciality of his own despite being the President. He used to write ‘Thank you’ cards with personalised messages of his own likings. He used to compose poems in his mother tongue Tamil. Kalam had authored numerous books. His famous book, ‘India 2020’, was the most popular and widely read book.
Kalam also contributed immensely to the Indian Space Research Organisation and he was fully responsible for numerous projects. Though he was a bachelor, somewhere he humorously remarked that he had got three children, they were ‘Prithvi’, ‘Agni’ and ‘Brahma’ (his three projects).
Kalam was the first personality to be elected as the President of Republic India in 2002 without any important political background. He was the first bachelor to be the President of India. It is also an exceptional record that an extraordinary talented scientist turned to a great national leader.
Kalam said, ‘Dream, dream, dream. Dream transforms into thoughts. Thoughts result into action. It means only if you have a dream, thoughts will come. If thoughts are there, you will do the action. So you have to start a goal vision in your life’. [President’s speech delivered at the Infosys Global Education Center, Mysore].
Now only his dreams and words of encouragement remain for the young generation and many generations ahead.