Why APJ Abdul Kalam was called people's president ??
What did Apj Abdul Kalam do for India?
Why is Apj Abdul Kalam famous?
If you want to find answers to the above question then just read below
Apj Abdul kalam was the 11th president of India and was awarded Bharat Ratan(the highest award in India) for his development of nuclear missiles and making India a nuclear power country. But none of his above or many other awards and contributions made him that special. What made him special was his kind and humble attitude all his life. . He lived a simple life with a down to earth attitude and as the saying goes (Best way to get respect is to give respect). This guy was a live example of this.
So below are some of his wonderful books arranged from the start of his life to end. Hope you will learn a lot of valuable lesson from this
1) My Journey
My journey recounts certain unique experiences of Kalam sir from childhood until he turns eighty years old.
The main focus of the book was however on the childhood phrase of Kalam sir. In which he first explains about his father ( Jainulabdeen's) morning walk like how he used to get up at 4 am and would go for a long walk to see his coconut grove. Apart from this spiritual nature of his father is also shown that neither being much educated many people would visit him with their worries and problems and would seek their advice and later on thanking him too.
The main part starts with Kalam sir starting working as a newspaper boy when he was about eight years in 1931 during World war 2. Earlier his father was running a boat business in which he would take the pilgrim from place to place but one day due to a sudden cyclone all boats were destroyed and it was getting hard to serve such a large family. Since there was no station at Rameswaram the story of selling newspapers became quite interesting every day a train would pass from Rameswaram and the guy used to throw the newspaper from the running train then Kalam sir would pick up them and distribute them in the city. It was not that easy although. Life started before sunrise and continued till sunset for this eight-year-old.
Apart from this like any minority he too faced discrimination when a new teacher enters the class look at Kalam Muslim cap and told him to get up from the first bench and sit at last but air of Rameswaram was very pure and soon this matter was reported and action was taken. I hope this happens everywhere.
This was his early childhood but since the town was small there were no educational facilities so Kalam sir had to go out to study.
2) WINGS OF FIRE
His career life is explained in great detail in this wonderful book.
As he left home for study the first place which he visited was Ramanathapuram where he studied in Schwartz High school at age of 15 where he met his teacher Iyadurai Solomon which raised his self-esteem. Then in 1950, he went to St Joseph's College for his degree in B.Sc ( Bachelor of Science).
There he realized that physics was not his cup of tea and then it was then when he desired to pursue Engineering and enrolled in MIT(Madras Institute of Technology).
Where he said that three teachers shaped my thinking they were Prof.Sponder, Kav Pandalai, and Narasingha Rao. In his final year at MIT an incident took place with Kalam sir that when he and his teammates were assigned a project to design a low-level attack aircraft. While the work was in progress one day his Prof Srinivasan Director visited him and after looking the project told Kalam that it was very bad and disappointing and give him three days to complete this or else he would cancel his scholarship. It was very shocking because this would mean the end of his career but still, he didn't complain and started working day and night. On the third day Prof visited again to look at the project, and suddenly hugged him affectionately and told him that he would never expect this kind of work in just three days.
These were the college days of Kalam sir after MIT he applied for a job at Air force and Directorate of Technical Development and production. Eventually, he couldn't succeed in getting a job for air force where he got so disappointed that he even though of going to sanyas but a sadhu told him that you are not made for this go back and try again differently. So with faith, he returns and applied for his second job at DTD&P he successfully got a job there.From Delhi, he was then posted to Aeronautical Development Establishment at Bangalore. From then on his career grew and a major breakthrough came when he got selected at INCOSPAR(Indian committee for space research) by none other than DR Vikram Sarabhai.
From then on his journey as a missile man began. With his first project of developing a rocket-assisted take-off system (RATO).And interesting things was that it was totally made in India and nothing was imported and this was 1969. But the project of SLV-3 was not that easy from requirements of 275 engineer Kalam sir only got 50. But this shows the true purpose of synergy. Many of his leadership skills and thoughts on India, youth, and future are shared while he was explaining the whole process which makes the story even more interesting. To be a successful team leader one has to stay back after the din and clutter of working day to emerge better-equipped and ready to face a new day.
Many bad events happen in his personal life during this project. First was the death of his mentor Ahmed Jallaludin in not every old age and another was the death of his father in 1976 at the age of 102.
And in professional life also he faced failure like termination of SLV-3 during its test flight trial on 10 August 1979.
These things make us realize that successful people are not different from a common man. They also faced problems and difficulties but the only thing that made the difference is their belief that in every problem and difficulty God gives us the opportunity to grow while others just blame God.
And with this belief, they tried again on 18 July 1980 and this time it was a great success and India became a part of a small group of nations which possessed satellite launch capabilities.
This book deals with the whole career life of Kalam sir in great detail.
YOU can listen to this wonderful book for FREE on Audible ( check now)
3) The turning points
The above two books portrait the amazing life of Kalam sir. However, they just show the childhood and career path of him.
But this is not only the path of Kalam sir.
So this book shows his presidency.
After leaving ISRO and then DRLD Kalam sir started teaching at Anna University in December 2001 where authorized strength of his class was 60 students but every day 350 students attend the class.
This thing clearly shows that students do not hate learning they hate the way learning happens in college and school and the mindset of teachers.
I believe that if teachers come in class with a learning mindset and not a teaching one then things can change a lot.
However, coming back during his ninth lecture Kalam sir got an unexpected call from Prime ministry Vajpayee telling him to nominate for presidency elections it was very shocking for Kalam sir but he thought that this would be great for his Vision 2020 ( A vision to make India a developed country by 2020 😞😞)
So he said yes however he didn't get support from Congress for this but this didn't stop him from becoming the president of the country which he became on 18 July 2002.
One of the first things Kalam sir did after becoming president was to initiate e-governance which he implemented and that increased the effectiveness of the government.
Kalam sir totally spoke 12 times in parliament on Vision 2020.
Apart from this Kalam sir gave guidelines to many things like improving the judicial process and making things better for the armed forces.
Reading this book can be very sad because how passionate Kalam sir was on Vision 2020 but sadly today leave about the economy we are not allowed to go out our house to due to Covid-19 but still, it includes priceless guidance which we all can learn at any time in fact this is the best time which will help us and our nation a lot.
4) IGNITED MINDS
The book 'IGNITED MINDS' by the former president and eminent Scientist - Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kalam has received wide acclaim just because of its exclusiveness. This book is dedicated to the younger generation. It is clearly stated that this book is mostly written for the blossoming young generations and creative Ignited Minds of nations. At the heart of the 'Ignited Minds', is the belief that the people of the nation have an unleashing power and by dint of hard work, realize their dreams of a truly good life.The description of this book has such an inspirational quote, "Dream, Dream, Dream! Dreams transform into thoughts. And thoughts result in actions'.
This book revolves around the dream of Dr. Kalam, transforming the mentality of the peoples. He wants to transform India by transforming the thoughts of its nation... As a developing country, India has unlimited resources, education, business energy and many more, you name it. It's all up to one's creativity how they take advantage of those that make all the difference.
It is no doubt that we haven't a lack of resources and perhaps, there is no other country that can match India's history, diverse cultures, and all facets that go with it. Yes!!! India also faced hardships but let's take some positive vibes from the past and Rebuilt the future.
This book ruminates on various sorts of issues but starts with something that we always want and look for in our life i.e., Peace Of Mind. And it is true that if the nation has 'No peace'; it can't soar to the altitudes and only stagnation will prevail. In this book, Abdul Kalam has pondered about the current scenario of the nation. And focused on: What needs to be added? What needs to be removed? What needs to be achieved? There is a need for a revolution that can bring a great change in Indian society.
There are a lot of issues covered in this book. He met many school children, Scientists, teachers, seers, and Saints in a duration of only two years! and the part of this book that stole my heart is his interaction with the students. Some of the students asked him really adorable questions which were unexpected at all but the way he tackled all the questions into an optimistic answer and that's the main reason I like this book that he was able to turn every question from being pessimistic to optimistic and yah!!! that was the way of our beloved president.. Most of the heart taking questions were from the children, whom you can't expect!. You cannot expect ten-year-old children to raise a topic like World war in a very serious tone. Kids often joke about these topics because they don't know the legitimacy of them but there were the questions I came across in this book were different, they were totally out of the box and that was the kind of questions you wouldn't expect from children. This book is full of inspiration, aspiration, and motivation!!!
Reading this book will spark a light in your body and in soul as well to do something for the sake of the nation. And you'll realize that you have the unleashing powers by using it you can bring a great change.. And I am damn sure that after reading this book your perspective will change and your perception will change.. You'll start seeing things in other ways! Your thoughts will transform and which can transform the whole nation!!!
So, Let's take an oath that we will transform ourselves and the nation as well.. This book makes me remember of '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 a valued system. I am one of the citizens of the billions, Only the vision will ignite a billion souls. It has entered into me, The ignited soul compared any 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'
Overall conclusion
Unfortunately, Kalam sir is no more with us now but his teaching and wisdom are and will stay in his books forever.
Anyone I repeat anyone can learn from him whether you are a businessman, employee, or self-employed or student. You won't have any professional advice from this book but what you will get is how to live life or what life is and should be and lastly it will make you realize your duty towards your nation.
A wonderful person who helped me in this is @be_all_rounder
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