Its indeed sad to hear about the sudden demise of our beloved late President Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam. Populary known as the Missile Man and loved and revered by one and all from children to the old and across the world. He demystified the aura around the Presidents Office and made himself and his office & his palace accessible to the common man. He was one of the first President to vote. After relinquishing his office he went back and stayed in a One & a Half room house - in stark contrast to the earlier Presidents.
He was know for simplicity, kindness, cheerful smile, integrity and forthrightness. He loved to spend time with Children for he felt that if he could influence the minds of the youth of India, he could help shape the future of India.
He took a few questions and due to want of time, he said "dont worry, I will answer all your questions. Pl. write to me apj@abdulkalam.com and I promise you, you will get a reply in 24 hours". Amazing human being and from a Ex-President of the Largest Democracy.
He has left a big void and I wonder whom will the youth of India write to in future and who will answer their inquisitive questions ?
Here is a replication of a Whatsup Message I received from a purported student (not verified however) - Sirjan Pal Singh , who was with Dr. Kalam during his visit to IIM Shillong and his last few hours. It reinforces the greatness , simplicity & concern for humanity, of Dr. Kalam and his love for spending time with the Youth of India . No wonder he died almost in the arms of the people he loved the most - STUDENTS :
Quote from Whats Up Message:
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"What I will be
remembered for.. my memory of the last day with the great Kalam sir...
It has been eight
hours since we last talked – sleep eludes me and memories keep flushing down,
sometimes as tears. Our day, 27th July, began at 12 noon, when we took our
seats in the flight to Guhawati. Dr. Kalam was 1A and I was IC. He was wearing
a dark colored “Kalam suit”, and I started off complimenting, “Nice color!”
Little did I know this was going to be the last color I will see on him.
Long, 2.5 hours of
flying in the monsoon weather. I hate turbulence, and he had mastered over
them. Whenever he would see me go cold in shaking plane, he would just pull
down the window pane and saw, “Now you don’t see any fear!”.
That was followed
by another 2.5 hours of car drive to IIM Shillong. For these two legged trip
of five hours we talked, discussed and debated. These were amongsthundreds of
the long flights and longer drives we have been together over the last six
years.
As each of them,
this was as special too. Three incidents/discussions in particular will be
“lasting memories of our last trip”.
First, Dr. Kalam
was absolutely worried about the attacks in Punjab. The loss of innocent lives
left him filledwith sorrow. The topic of lecture at IIM Shillong was Creating
a Livable Planet Earth. He related the incident to the topic and said, “it
seems the man made forces are as big a threat to the livability of earth as
pollution”. We discussed on how, if this trend of violence, pollution and
reckless human action continues we will forced to leave earth. “Thirty years,
at this rate, maybe”, he said. “You guys must do something about it… it is
going to be your future world”
Our second
discussion was more national. For the past two days, Dr. Kalam was worried
that time and again Parliament, the supreme institution of democracy, was
dysfunctional. He said, “I have seen two different governments in my tenure. I
have seen more after that. This disruption just keeps happening. It is not
right. I really need to find out a way to ensure that the parliament works on
developmental politics.” He then asked me to prepare a surprise assignment
question for the students at IIM Shillong, which he would give them only at
the end of the lecture. He wanted to them to suggest three innovative ways to
make the Parliament more productive and vibrant. Then, after a while he
returned on it. “But how can ask them to give solutions if I don’t have any
myself”. For the next one hour, we thwarted options after options, who come up
with his recommendation over the issue. We wanted to include this discussion
in our upcoming book, Advantage India.
Third, was an
experience from the beauty of his humility. We were in a convoy of 6-7 cars.
Dr. Kalam and I were in the second car. Ahead us was an open gypsy with three
soldiers in it. Two of them were sitting on either side and one lean guy was
standing atop, holding his gun. One hour into the road journey, Dr. Kalam
said, “Why is he standing? He will get tired. This is like punishment. Can you
ask a wireless message to given that he may sit?” I had to convince him, he
has been probably instructed to keep standing for better security. He did not
relent. We tried radio messaging, that did not work. For the next 1.5 hours of
the journey, he reminded me thrice to see if I can hand signal him to sit
down. Finally, realizing there is little we can do – he told me, “I want to
meet him and thank him”. Later, when we landed in IIM Shillong, I went
inquiring through security people and got hold of the standing guy. I took him
inside and Dr. Kalam greeted him. He shook his hand, said thank you buddy.
“Are you tired? Would you like something to eat? I am sorry you had to stand
so long because of me”. The young lean guard, draped in black cloth, was
surprised at the treatment. He lost words, just said, “Sir, aapkeliye to 6
ghantebhikhaderahenge”.
After this, we went
to the lecture hall. He did not want to be late for the lecture. “Students
should never be made to wait”, he always said. I quickly set up his mike,
briefed on final lecture and took position on the computers. As I pinned his
mike, he smiled and said, “Funny guy! Are you doing well?” ‘Funny guy’, when
said by Kalam could mean a variety of things, depending on the tone and your
own assessment. It could mean, you have done well, you have messed up
something, you should listen to him or just that you have been plain naïve or
he was just being jovial. Over six years I had learnt to interpret Funny Guy
like the back of my palm. This time it was the last case.
“Funny guy! Are you
doing well?” he said. I smiled back, “Yes”. Those were the last words he said.
Two minutes into the speech, sitting behind him, I heard a long pause after
completing one sentence. I looked at him, he fell down.
We picked him up.
As the doctor rushed, we tried whatever we could. I will never forget the look
in his three-quarter closed eyes and I held his head with one hand and tried
reviving with whatever I could. His hands clenched, curled onto my finger.
There was stillness on his face and those wise eyes were motionlessly
radiating wisdom. He never said a word. He did not show pain, only purpose was
visible.
In five minutes we
were in the nearest hospital. In another few minutes the they indicated the
missile man had flown away, forever. I touched his feet, one last time. Adieu
old friend! Grand mentor! See you in my thoughts and meet in the next birth.
As turned back, a
closet of thoughts opened.
Often he would ask
me, “You are young, decide what will like to be remembered for?” I kept
thinking of new impressive answers, till one day I gave up and resorted to
tit-for-tat. I asked him back, “First you tell me, what will you like to be
remembered for? President, Scientist, Writer, Missile man, India 2020, Target
3 billion…. What?” I thought I had made the question easier by giving options,
but he sprang on me a surprise. “Teacher”, he said.
Then something he
said two weeks back when we were discussing about his missile time friends. He
said, “Children need to take care of their parents. It is sad that sometimes
this is not happening”. He paused and said, “Two things. Elders must also do.
Never leave wealth at your deathbed – that leaves a fighting family. Second,
one is blessed is one can die working, standing tall without any long drawn
ailing. Goodbyes should be short, really short”.
Today, I look back
– he took the final journey, teaching, what he always wanted to be remembered
doing. And, till his final moment he was standing, working and lecturing. He
left us, as a great teacher, standing tall. He leaves the world with nothing
accumulated in his account but loads of wishes and love of people. He was a
successful, even in his end.
Will miss all the
lunches and dinners we had together, will miss all the times you surprised me
with your humility and startled me with your curiosity, will miss the lessons
of life you taught in action and words, will miss our struggles to race to
make into flights, our trips, our long debates.
You gave me dreams, you showed
me dreams need to be impossible, for anything else is a compromise to my own
ability. The man is gone, the mission lives on. Long live Kalam."
Your indebted
student,
Srijan Pal Singh
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