"You have to dream before your dreams can come true"

-Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam-

It is hard to find a selfless person in today's egocentric world, like Dr. Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen
Abdul Kalam. Dr. Kalam was born in poor family of an Island of South India on 15th Oct. 1931. His
father Jainulabdeen Marakayar was a poor traditional small boat builder and his mother was house
wife in small village of Rameshwaram in the state of Tamil Nadu in South India.

Invigoration from teachers :

Being a part of the hand to mouth family Kalam started working in his early childhood. After the
completion of his day to day studies in the school he started to distribute newspapers to help his
father. During his school days he was just like an average student but unlike other students his
favorite subject was mathematics so that is why he was considered as brilliant and hardworking
student in the school. Dr. Kalam always remained thankful to his teachers, according to him his
entire life is greatly influenced by his brilliant teachers. In his various lectures he referred about his
favorite teacher Shri Sivasubramaniya, who uses phenomena of nature to teach students with live
real examples. One real life example of bird flight given by his teacher Shri Sivasubramaniya
became his life mission. By following his dream by work harder and harder he became the Rocket
Engineer & and a successful technologist. During studying in high school he was greatly inspired
by an another teacher Mr. Iyadurai Solomon who disclosed him regarding the three spiritual secret
forces of life to achieve anything in life and that were desire, expectation & belief.

Higher Engineering Education

Regarding his college life in the year 1950 Dr. Kalam had joined Saint Joseph's College of
Tiruchirappalli of South India and then enrolled with University of Madras from where awarded
with his bachelor degree in physics in the year 1954. After completing the graduation he had joined
Madras Institute of Technology. At MIT Dr. Kalam did graduation in Aerospace Engineering in the
year 1957. Dr. Kalam also visited to NASA ( National Aeronautics Space Administration) for
advance practical studies in his field.
Professional Career:

Dr. ABJ Kalam has creative and innovative personality. Due to his innovative and unique ideas still
he is an inspirational icon not only for his colleagues in space programming department or various
other departments we he serves but all for those who wants to achieve some high in their life.
Popularly known as 'Missile Man of India' started his career as newspapers vendor to achieved the
heights of first citizen of India as President of India.

After completing his graduation from MIT Dr. Kalam worked as aeronautical engineer with Indian
Space Research Organization and Defense Research & Development Organization. At DRDO in the
initial days of his career he designed a helicopter for the Army. Dr. Kalam was selected as the
director of India's is first domestic satellite Launcher Vehicle (SLV-III) in the year 1969 and this
was the milestone achievement for him. In 1970s two more significant projects titled "Devil" &
"Valient" were also successfully undergone under the wise direction of Dr. Kalam. Being an
integrated part of DRDO Kalam leaded the working project of two high potential Missiles 'Prithvi'
means earth and 'Agni' means fire. After working at various designations he served DRDO for
approximately 20 years and in the year 1992 he was the Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister of
India. In the secret Nuclear Test Mission 'Pokhran-II', Rajasthan, India, on May 1998 Dr. Kalam
played a vital role from start to end. His work and conduct in the field of space research is really
remarkable. One more important invention of Dr. Kalam is carbon-carbon. Which is very lightest
material as compare to the earlier material used by orthopedic surgeons. It was really worship for
such children who have to drag more than 4 kilograms of weigh around their legs and now they
have only 400 grams calipers on their legs.

Leader of the Nation:

" Let me define a leader. He must have vision and passion and not be afraid of any problem.
Instead, he should know how to defeat it. Most importantly, he must work with integrity."
-APJ Abdul Kalam-

Dr. Kalam had all such qualities which a National Leader must have. On the 25th July 2002 India
got its 11th President in the form of Dr. Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam. In India the position
of President is considered as the most prestigious position. He served India as president for 5 years
e.g. from 25th July 2002 to 25th July 2007. Dr. Kalam was the first ever president in the President
House who is unmarried or it can be said the First Man of India with First Lady of India. It was his
passion to serve his country as a scientist as engineer as a president he never get married. Being a
president he was also known as the 'People's President'. Dr. Kalam continues to take a vigorous
interest in alternative developments within the field of science and technology. He has projected a
search program for developing bio-implants. He was the supporter of Open supply over proprietary
solutions and believes that the utilization of free code on an oversized scale can bring the
advantages of data technology to additional folks. He is an honest attender associated an originator
within the art of communication. He daily visited (and was proud of) his own web site
(www.abdulkalam.com) respondent queries. President Kalam’s artistic and innovative stress on
non-secular values was sort of a ray of daylight within the lives of India’s citizens. He was a
perennial supply of inspiration to them particularly the young. Being in such a prestigious post of
President he never accepted any kind of gift from anybody. During his service he never bought any
kind property, air conditioner, refrigerator, car etc. but being a dedicated books lover he was the
owner of approximately 2500 books, he bought just one pair of shoes, few shirts, 4 trousers, 3 suits
and one wristwatch.

Interaction with youths:

Dr. Kalam had keen desire to transform India to a developed economy or a developed nation and
according to him it possible by implementation of advanced technology and the leading initiative by
youth of the country. He was always found delivering motivational & inspiring speeches to school
& college students. He always interact students as :

“One of the very important characteristics of a student is to question.

Let the students ask questions.”
It is not possible to define his internal feeling about children and youth in worlds. According to him
extreme of his happiness is at that time when he is with the children and youths of the nation.

Views about teachers:

"I believe there is no other profession in the world that is more important
to society than that of a teacher."
According to Dr. Kalam teaching is the most valuable and important profession as compare to any
other profession. As per his views it is the responsibility of the teacher to convert aspirations of the
students into reality. He described teacher as the back backbone of the society as per his wording:
 "Teachers are the backbone of any country, the pillar upon which all aspirations
are converted into realities."

In his entire life he was so thankful to his teachers, he never forgot to discuss about his learning
experience from his teacher while addressing to students in school, colleges or seminars. After
resigning from his post of scientific advisor in the year 1999 worked on a plan with the help of
which he can interact with student more and more. So in the year 2001 he commenced the mission
to interact one lakh students. He described teacher as the lamp which can lighten the life of
numerous persons. In his autobiography "Wings of Fire" how he was deeply inspired by his
teachers especially from the mathematic teachers. He was also most inspired by way of teaching of
his physics teacher Mr. Sivasubramania Iyer.

The role of the teacher is like the proverbial ‘ladder’, it is used by

everyone to climb up in life, but the ladder itself stays in its place.

An Author & Poet:

Dr. Kalam has provided lot of literature to his readers. He has written lots of books and maximum
of them are motivational and inspirational books. One thing is found common in his almost every
book he never missed any chance to interact youth with his inspiring writing. He is the author of 25
must read books. His first published book was India 2020: A Vision for the New Millennium
which was published in the year 1998. In this book he reflects his keen desire to transform India
into a digitally developed economy. And his last book was "Transcendence My Spiritual
Experiences". In his this particular memoir he has shared personal spiritual experiences of his life.
In other books like his autobiography before becoming the President of India, "Wings of Fire" he
disclosed various experiences of his life like his leading contribution in "Project Prithivi & Project
Agani". He also discussed about his experience regarding Phokhran-II Nuclear Test, and various
other memorable interesting sequences of his life from his childhood to till the publishing date of
the book. In his revolutionary book 'Five Minds For The Future' Kalam says that to develop the
education system the current system has to develop the five states of minds :

-The Disciplinary State of Mind

- The Synthesizing State of Mind
- The Creative State of Mind
- The Respectful State of Mind
- The Ethical State of Mind
According to Dr. Kalam, by developing these five states of mind the educations system can achieve
the highest level of education without changing the existing system of education.

Dr. Kalam has also written beautiful , inspirational and patriotic songs and poems like My Song,
Song of Youth, My National Flag, A Massage From Mother Earth, The Life Tree, Rock Walls,
Blossomed to Give, My Garden Smiles, Dream, Our Mission is Water, Peace Prayer, The Vision,
My dear soldier, Village Development is Key to Nation Development and many more.

Awards :

Dr. APJ Kalam was awarded with the various prestigious National & International awards
Following is the list of such awards :

- Bharat Ratna Award (1997) ( Highest award of civilian of the Republic of India)
- Veer Savarkar Award ( 1998) (Awarded by Government of India for excellence in field)
- The International Von Karman Wings Award (2009) (Awarded by Aerospace Historical
Society)
- Padma Bhushan (1981) (3rd highest civilian award in the Republic of India)
- King Charles –II Medal (2007) (Awarded by Royal Society of U.K.'s National Academy of
Science)
- IEEE Honorary Membership (2011) (Significant honor by IEEE for life time achievement to
and Individual)
- Padma Vibhushan (1990) ( 2nd highest civilian award in the Republic of India )
- Indira Gandhi Award for International Integration (1997) (Prestigious Award corded by
Indian National Congress in the memory of former Prime Minister late Mrs. Indira Gandhi)
- Hover Medal (2009) ( This medal is administrated by American Society of Mechanical
Engineers )
- Ramanujan Award (2000) (This Award is named after famous Indian Mathematician Sir
Ramanujan and is awarded for the excellence in the field of Mathematics.)

Death:

An admirable personality, a dedicated worker, a people president, a motivational identity, a

spiritual poet, an inspirational writer, a terrific human being, but yet a down to earth 'Missile Man
of India' was died while doing his all-time favorite work e.g. interacting with students on 27th of
July 2015, at Indian Institute of Management, Shillong, due to cardiac arrest at 6:35 and was
confirmed dead at 7:45 PM at Bathany Hospital. 30th of July 2015 11th President of India was laid to
rest at Pei Karumbu Ground of Rameswaram with prestigious state honour. President Narendra
Modi described his death as great scientific loss to the community, he took the India to new
diamansions. The death of or Dr. Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam was not only the
unbearable loss for nation but also for the entire world.

" It is very easy to defeat someone

But it is very hard to win someone"