The Missile to Heaven

The evening news brought today the extremely somber news of the demise of The People’s President. Fortune bereaved India of his Bharat Ratna son, The Missile man of India. The incident that I was narrating in my previous post took place in 2007. Till yesterday, I had little memories of that brief seminar that I attended in the same year; but today, suddenly a box of memory clumps spilled in my mind. A wrinkled man with average height and greasy hair held an audience of about thousand school brats mesmerized for about one and a half hour. The school authorities were stunned to realize that their students could be so civilized! Such was the aura of APJ Abdul Kalam.

Without any ambiguity, he is the most popular president in india’s history. Despite being the quintessential scientist, he was a common man at heart. That was also the reason why people connected with him so easily. When I was a kid i.e when I was in first or second standard, I used to say that I want to become the president of india, but after 2005, I became a bit more particular-I wanted to become Mr. Kalam. More than a president, he was symbol of hope and hard work. His entire life articulated that success can be achieved by hard work. I was so much intrigued by his life story, particularly the fact that he belonged to a family of less means but still he climbed the rungs of educational achievements and pioneered the ballistic missile project of India. In the aforementioned seminar, he spurred the students to take scientific research to new level. He talked about his experience at DRDO, he literally talked about rocket science but wits such simplicity that it appeared to us like some walk in the park. He liked to spent most of his time with students, inspiring them to join the rail of scientific development. When he breathed his last, even then he was at the seminar IIM Shillong. May his soul rest in peace.

“Dream is not what you see in sleep, it is the thing that doesn’t let you sleep”

P.S. I will continue my story in the next post. This was something which I couldn’t refrain myself from writing. It was a real shock and a matter of dismay to hear such a sad news.