He stresses this fact most passionately, in all his talks to high school students and he also emphasizes this in the introduction to his autobiography, “…never feel small and helpless. We are all born with a divine fire in us. Our efforts should be to give wings to this fire and fill the world with the glow of its goodness.” [1, Introduction]

President Kalam began his life much like any other ordinary citizen in India. He had no backing in terms of monetary wealth or political influence. However, he was blessed to be in the company of wise people. His parents, his teachers, and a few elderly friends in his neighborhood. Most importantly, he was a good student. He was quick to grasp the wisdom and knowledge that was present all around him and use it for his development as an individual. Gradually he began to grow stronger and set out on a journey that took him far away from his little home in Rameswaram.

Dr Kalam left his home town and completed his Aeronautical Engineering at the Madras Institute of Technology at Madras (now Chennai). After his Aeronautical engineering, Dr Kalam made a failed attempt to become an Air Force Pilot—his childhood dream. This was against the dreams of his father, who always envisioned him as a collector.  This apparent failure propelled Dr Kalam to the world of rocket science. His growth toward the top of this field is now part of history.

It is easy to glamorize such a rise to the top, or feel disconnected with it. But as is his own admission, one of the most important factors that contributed to this growth was not any outside influence to advance his career, but a desire to constantly improve and grow as an individual. As he so honestly says, “All I had was the inner urge to seek more within myself…..to look at how far I had still to go rather than how far I had come.” [1, p. 140]

This attitude took him to the highest office in our country. Dr Kalam is our hero not only because he has such an attitude, but also because he aims to personally interact with 100,000 high school students and instill this same attitude in them. He is our hero because he envisions this same attitude in our nation of one billion people.

To conclude we would like to leave you with his vision, our vision, a vision that he expresses in the form of this poem in his book “Ignited Minds” [2, Epilogue]

Song of Youth

Me and My Nation-India

As a young citizen of India,

armed with technology, knowledge and love for my nation,

I realize, small aim is a crime.

I will work and sweat for a great vision,

the vision of transforming India into a developed nation

powered by economic strength with value system.

I am one of the citizens of a billion,

only the vision will ignite the billion souls.

It has entered into me,

the ignited soul compared to any resource,

is the most powerful resource on the earth,

above the earth and under the earth.

I will keep the lamp of knowledge burning

to achieve the vision-Developed India.

References:

[1] APJ Abdul Kalam & Arun Tiwari (1999). Wings Of Fire, an Autobiography. Universities Press.

[2] APJ Abdul Kalam (2003) Ignited Minds. Penguin books.

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