Indore Rocks !!! pays tribute to India's Rockstar President Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, who had blessed Indoreans on his various visits to the city !! He has been a visiting faculty member at the IIM Indore and has therefore visited the institute four times, including on one of the Foundation Days, in 2007 !! He has also visited the Army units and institutes in Mhow, near Indore, and where, he was impressed by the 200+ year old Baobab Tree !! Dr. Kalam has also visited the DAVV (university) and of course interacted with kids of various schools of Indore, at a large gathering at the Emerald Heights School, Rau, Indore !! On his visits, he has also been to the Raja Ramana Centre for Advanced Technology (RRCAT) !!
Born on October 15, 1931 at Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu, Dr. Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam, left for the HEAVENLY ABODE at on July 27, 2015, at Shillong, Meghalaya, where he had gone to address the students of IIM Shillong !! Dr. Kalam would have turned 84 in this October !! According to reports, Dr. Kalam suffered a massive cardiac arrest during the lecture at IIM Shillong and was confirmed dead more than two hours after he was brought into the ICU of Bethany hospital in a critical condition, following the collapse at around 6:30 pm !!
Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam graduated in Science from St. Joseph’s College, Trichy, and specialised in Aeronautical Engineering from Madras Institute of Technology (MIT), Chennai !! He joined the Aeronautical Development Establishment of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) as a scientist and started his career by designing a small helicopter for the Indian Army !!
Not satisfied with this, he moved to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), to lead a young team to initiate the effort of design & development, leading to production of composites rocket motor cases !! Dr. Kalam was a pioneer in fibre glass technology and he made significant contribution as Project Director to develop India’s first indigenous Satellite Launch Vehicle (SLV-3) which successfully injected the Rohini satellite in the near Earth orbit in the July of 1980 and thereby making India a member of the very exclusive Space Club !! He was responsible for the evolution of ISRO’s launch vehicle programme, particularly the PSLV configuration !!
After working for two decades in ISRO and mastering launch vehicle technologies, Dr. Kalam moved back to DRDO, where he took up the responsibility of developing Indigenous Guided Missiles as the Chief Executive of Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP), and worked under his role model - the famous scientist Dr. Vikram Sarabhai !! He was responsible for the development and operationalisation of AGNI and PRITHVI Missiles and for building indigenous capability in critical technologies through networking of multiple institutions !! One of his significant contribution was creating Research Centre Imarat for advanced technologies !! This is where he earned the title of the 'Missile Man' of India !! He was the Chief Scientific Adviser to India's Prime Minister and was the Secretary, DRDO, from July 1992 to December 1999 !! During this period he led the weaponisation of strategic missile systems and the Pokhran-II nuclear tests, in collaboration with Department of Atomic Energy, which made India a nuclear weapon State !! He also gave thrust to self-reliance in defence systems by progressing multiple development tasks and mission projects such as Light Combat Aircraft !!
As Chairman of Technology Information, Forecasting and Assessment Council (TIFAC) and as an eminent scientist, he led the country with the help of 500 experts to arrive at Technology Vision 2020, giving a road map for transforming India from the present developing status to a developed nation !! Dr. Kalam has also served as the Principal Scientific Advisor to the Government of India, in the rank of Cabinet Minister, from November 1999 to November 2001 and was responsible for evolving policies, strategies, and missions for many development applications !! Dr. Kalam was also the Chairman, Ex-officio, of the Scientific Advisory Committee to the Cabinet (SAC-C) and piloted India Millennium Mission 2020 !!
In the bio-medical area, Dr. Kalam along with his team, collaborated with medical specialists in the development of Kalam-Raju stent during 1994 – 1996 !! Kalam-Raju coronary stent, after qualification trials, has been fitted to many needy patients !! This development has further led to the creation of a production unit of state-of-the-art stents !! Also, he had initiated the use of Carbon-Carbon and Carbon-polymer materials for production of floor reaction orthosis calipers, which have reduced the weight of the caliper to 1/10th of the original weight in 1995 – 1996 !! Over 50,000 children have been fitted with these calipers !!
In a surprise move, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee announced their nomination of Dr. Kalam as the President !! After the presidential election, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam became the 11th President of India on 25th July 2002, with an extremely easy victory !! He was only the third Indian President to have received the Bharat Ratna award before assuming office, and the only one yet to have been a scientist and also the only one as a bachelor !! As the President is also the Supreme Commander of all the three Armed Forces of India, he took his job seriously, being also the only President to visit Siachen Glacier - the highest battlefield in the world, the only President to take a flight in a fighter jet (Sukhoi SU-30MKI), and also the only President to take a ride onboard a submarine !! He has also been the only President to have met and interacted with a massive number of citizens, inviting children and adults to the Rashtrapati Bhavan (the Presidential Palace) or meeting them up on his trips !! He loved to meet and inspire children and be one amongst them, even if it meant breaking protocols of being the first citizen of the country - he opened the doors of Rashtrapati Bhavan to the public !! He was the one who had got set up, the Rashtrapati Bhavan Kitchen Museum, displaying all the unique and vintage kitchen items there - this is definitely one of its kind museum in the world !! After five eventful years of being the most popular President of the country, known as People's President, he left the office on July 25, 2007 !!
His focus has always been on transforming India into a developed nation by 2020 !! His accent was on constructive networking and excellent human resources for an economically developed, prosperous, and peaceful society !!
Dr. Kalam took up academic pursuit as Professor, Technology & Societal Transformation at Anna University, Chennai from November 2001 and was involved in teaching and research tasks !! Above all, he took up a mission to ignite the young minds for national development by meeting school students across the country !! However, after leaving the job of being the First Citizen of the country, Dr. Kalam, became a visiting professor at the Indian Institute of Management Shillong, the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, and the Indian Institute of Management Indore, an honorary fellow of Indian Institute of Science - Bangalore, Chancellor of the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology - Thiruvananthapuram, professor of Aerospace Engineering at Anna University, and an adjunct at many other academic and research institutions across India !! He taught information technology at the International Institute of Information Technology - Hyderabad, and technology at Banaras Hindu University and Anna University !! During the last decade, he addressed over five million youth below the age of 17 and inspired them to become active participants of India's Vision 2020 !! He has addressed several children science congresses across the country !! Dr. Kalam was passionate about bringing rural prosperity through his path-breaking model PURA (Providing Urban Amenities to Rural Areas), in which science and technology have to play the key role !! Based on his diverse experience, he had been propagating the concept of World Knowledge Platform through which the core competencies of organisations and nations could be synergised to innovate and create solutions and products for the challenges of 21st century !!
In his literary pursuit Dr. Kalam authored a number of books, such as “Wings of Fire”, “India 2020 – A Vision for the New Millennium”, “My Journey”, “Ignited Minds – Unleashing the power within India”, “Indomitable Spirit”, “Guiding Soul”, “Envisioning an Empowered Nation”, “Inspiring Thoughts”, “Children Ask Kalam”, “You are born to blossom”, “Family and the Nation”, “Life Tree”, "Target 3 Billion", and “The Luminous Sparks” - a collection of his poems !! He used to pen down a lot of poems, whenever he had spare time !! Many of them have become household names in India and among the Indian nationals abroad !! These books have been translated into many Indian and foreign languages !!
Dr. Kalam has been one of the most distinguished scientists of India with the unique honour of receiving honorary doctorates from 43 Universities and institutions from India and abroad !! The Honorary Doctorates include, Nyenrode Business University, Netherlands; Nanyang Technological University, Singapore; Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburg USA; University of Wolverhampton, UK; University of Kentucky, USA; Oakland University, Michigan USA; University Sans Malaysia, Malaysia; the University of Sydney, Australia !!
He has been awarded with the coveted civilian awards of India, all for his untiring works – Padma Bhushan in 1981, Padma Vibhushan in 1990, and the country's highest civilian award - the Bharat Ratna in 1997 !! He is a recipient of several other awards, Fellowships of many professional institutions, and international recognitions !! He was bestowed upon with, the famous Veer Savarkar Award in 1998 and the Ramanujan Award in 2000 !! The Royal Society, UK, had awarded Dr. Kalam with the “King Charles-II Medal” for Science and Technology in October 2007 !! He received the Woodrow Wilson Award in 2008; the Royal Academy of Engineering, London, UK, conferred on him the International Medal 2008 in June 2009 at London; the Hoover Board of Awards presented him the Hoover Medal 2008 at New York in April 2009; the Aerospace Historical Society, in collaboration with the Graduate Aerospace Laboratories (GALCIT) at the California Institute of Technology, awarded him the “2009 International Von Karman Wings Award” in September 2009 !!
However, all these awards and degrees and felicitations pale in comparison to the love and affection he won from one and all, Indians and foreigners !! He has had such a profound impact on everyone, even if that person hasn't met him, that they consider Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam as their own President, as their guide, as mentor !! He was a great human being !!
The nation mourns his loss, as we have lost a great son of india !! His immortal remains have been flown from Shillong to New Delhi’s Palam Air Force base, where last respects were paid to him by the current President of India Mr. Pranab Mukherjee, Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi, Vice President, Defence Minister, and Service Chiefs of Army, Navy, & Air Force - all of whom were in attendance there among many other VVIPs, not to forget Air Marshall (Retd.) Arjan Singh, who was all of 96 years of age, generally on a wheel-chair, but there to pay respects, on his feet !! The Armed Forces, with their Supreme Commander President Mukherjee and all three service chiefs, gave a 21 Gun Salute to their earlier supremo and the one who ruled our hearts, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam !!
From the Air Force base, his corpse was then carried over to his official residence at 10, Rajaji Marg, New Delhi, in the Army's Gun Carriage !! Over the nearly 15 km way from airport to his residence, school children and so many other citizens queued up all along the footpaths, just to pay their last respects to this great man !! At his residence, was then a huge crowd of VVIPs and citizens alike to see him off !! Indore's own Ms. Sumitra Mahajan - Lok Sabha Speaker, the PM again, all the Cabinet Ministers, Ministers of State, MPs, Chief Ministers of states including our Madhya Pradesh’s Mr. Shivraj Singh Chouhan, all other politicians including former PMs, bureaucrats, celebrities including Sachin Tendulkar (he’s also an MP from Rajya Sabha), and above all, huge number of citizens who lost someone amongst their own !! Such love and admiration for a politician has not been seen in recent times, though he was only a reluctant politician !!
Indore Rocks team salutes the grand man of India, the real ROCKSTAR !!
Our dear Dr APJ Abdul Kalam has always guided us to be better Indians and better human beings, and we hope and pray that he'll always be around to guide us, as ever !! He has lived such a simple, unassuming life and in a way that he wanted to !! He lived unlike other scientists, he lived unlike any other President - most simply and breaking protocols to ease lives of people, and he also lived unlike any other VVIP after retirement as the President !! He avoided any luxuries that were provided to him, lined up in queues at airports, on polling booths during elections, and the like !! He always wanted to be known as a teacher and loved students from the bottom of his heart !! And he passed away the way he wanted, among the people he loved most - while working (giving lecture to students) We all can dream of and aspire to emulate this kind of a life !! True tribute to this legend would be to deeply study his works and principles, as mentioned in his visionary books, and realise the visions for an even more rocking India and the world !!
(images have been compiled from personal sources along with the help of media houses including BCCL, HT, DB, DNA, WSJ, Hindu, Rediff, Govt. of India, FreeRepublic, Kashimarnan, Deinayurveda, IndianExpress, Manorama, mcllo, Twitter, BBC, Facebook, Google, & Duckduckgo)