A.P.J. ABDUL KALAM

My friends, You have heard and read many inspiring stories . Similarly I am going to tell you a story of a true legend and a true human. This is a story about a journey of a true human from a newspaper vendor to the President of Republic of India.

Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam was born on 15 October 1931 in Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu,India. His father, Jainulabdeen, was a boat owner, and his mother, Ashiamma, was a homemaker. His father lost his boat in a storm which made his family poorer . To supplement his family income Kalam along with his cousin Samsuddin went around disturbing newspaper since the age 8.
He used to get up at four in the morning, and go to the tuition, after returning from tuition at 5:30 a.m. he went for the Namaz and Koran Sharif learning in Arabic school. After that he used to go to Rameswaram Road Railway station, three kilometers away to collect newspaper. He used to collect the paper and run around the Rameswaram town and be the first one to distribute the newspapers in the town. After distribution, he used to come home at 8 AM. After the school gets over in the evening, again he will go around Rameswaran for collection of dues from customers.
He received average grades in school but was seen as a hardworking and bright student with a strong desire to learn things. He used to study for hours, especially mathematics. There used to be no electricity. his house was lit by the kerosene lamp that too between 7 to 9 PM. His mother specially gave him a small kerosene lamp so that he can study up to 11 PM.

He also shared a childhood incident. One day, when all his brothers and sisters were sitting and eating, his mother went on giving him chapattis. When he finished eating, his elder brother called him privately and scolded “Kalam do you know what was happening? You went on eating Chappati, and mother went on giving you. She has given all her chappatis to you. It is difficult time. Be a responsible son and do not make your mother starve”. First time he had a shivering sensation and he could not control myself. he rushed to his mother and hugged her. He also portrayed his mother with the title “mother” in his book “Wings of Fire”.

 Mother 

“I still remember the day when I was ten,

 Sleeping on your lap to the envy of my elder brothers and sisters.

 It was full moon night, my world only you knew Mother!,

 My Mother! When at midnight, I woke with tears falling on my knee

 You knew the pain of your child, My Mother.

 Your caring hands, tenderly removing the pain 

Your love, your care, your faith gave me strength,

 To face the world without fear and with His strength. 

We will meet again on the great Judgment Day. My Mother!"

-From Wings of Fire

He was the true son of his mother. He described his mother as an angelic during namaz,and Every time he saw her during Namaz he was inspired and moved.

After completing his education at the Schwartz Higher Secondary School, Ramanathapuram, he went on to attend Saint Joseph's College, Tiruchirappalli, then affiliated with the University of Madras, from where he graduated in physics in 1954. He moved to Madras in 1955 to study aerospace engineering in Madras Institute of Technology.While he was working on a senior class project, the Dean was dissatisfied with his lack of progress and threatened to revoke his scholarship unless the project was finished within the next three days. He met the deadline, impressing the Dean, who later said to him, "I was putting you under stress and asking you to meet a difficult deadline".He narrowly missed achieving his dream of becoming a fighter pilot, as he placed ninth in qualifiers, and only eight positions were available in the indian air force. After then, he never looked back.

Lets have a look into his achievements:

•  At the very start of his career, he designed a small helicopter for the Indian army. 
• He also worked under the renowned scientist Vikram Sarabhai as a part of the committee of INCOSPAR. 
• From 1963 to 1964, he visited the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, the Wallops Flight Facility located at the Eastern Shore of Virginia and the Langley Research Center of NASA situated at Hampton, Virginia.
•  In 1965, he worked independently in Defence Research and Development Organisation for the first time on an expandable rocket project. The programme was expanded in 1969 and more engineers were included after receiving Government approval. 
• He became the Project Director of India's first indigenous Satellite Launch Vehicle (SLV-III) when he was transferred in 1969 to Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
•  In July 1980, his team was successful in deploying the Rohini satellite near the orbit of the Earth. Dr. Kalam's efforts in developing the projects on SLV-III and Polar SLV from 1970s to 1990s proved to be successful. 
• Dr. Kalam directed Project Valiant and Project Devil that aimed at developing ballistic missiles using the technology of the SLV programme that was a success.
•  He developed a low-cost Coronary Stent along with Dr. Soma Raju, a cardiologist, in 1998. It was named "Kalam-Raju Stent" after them. Both of them also designed a tablet PC called "Kalam-Raju Tablet" for healthcare in rural areas.

Dr. Kalam as President of India
                 Dr. Kalam served as the President of India from 25 July 2002 to 25 July 2007.He won the 2002 presidential election with an electoral vote of 922,884, surpassing the 107,366 votes won by Lakshmi Sahgal. He was the first bachelor and scientist to reside in the Rashtrapati Bhavan. Dr. Kalam was affectionately called the People's President. According to him, the toughest decision taken by him as President was signing the Bill of Office of Profit.