Page 53 - DENG105_ELECTIVE_ENGLISH_II

Elective English–II

Notes After his college education, Abdul Kalam was keen on joining the Indian Air Force. But his
dreams of joining the Indian Air Force were dashed when he just missed to make it to the
selected list of candidates. Though he was sad at being unable to join the Indian Air Force, he
went ahead and joined the Directorate of Technical Development and Production, DTD & P
(Air), as a Senior Scientific Assistant.
Abdul Kalam’s job at the DTD & P (Air) became the launching pad for his glorious career in
the defence field. After working for some time at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
(NASA) in USA, Abdul Kalam returned to India and helped the country to develop awe some
weaponry.
It will be no exaggeration to state that Abdul Kalam is instrumental in firmly establishing
India’s core competence in missile technology. His efforts, along with that of his dedicated
team, took India into the selected club of nations that call themselves super powers.
In his 14-year work-span as the Director of Defence Research and Development Laboratory,
he lined up Prithvi, Agni, Trishul, Akash and Nag. He completed the long delayed ‘Arjun’
tank project and also pushed ahead with an indigenous Aircraft ‘Kaveri’.
He is one of those few technologists who strive to find multiple uses for what they create. He
developed lightweight calipers for the polio-effected, out of the carbon material developed for
Agni missile. This material made the caliper one tenth of its original weight of four kilos.

He doesn’t favour the import of technology and encourages self-reliant in technology. He
says, “Haven’t we proved that we can do things with minimum foreign aid? All we need is
determination and belief in ourselves.”
Dr. Kalam is an extremely simple man. He is above seventy and a bachelor. He is a strict
vegetarian and teetotaller. He is a ‘work alcoholic’ who knows no holidays in the seven day
week. He works 18 hours a day. He is fond of music and spends his leisure hours practising
the lute (Veena). He is a great lover of books and is a voracious reader of both the ‘Bhagvad
Gita’ and the ‘Kuran’. Dr. Kalam quotes, “for great men, religion is a way of making friends,
small people make religion a fighting tool”.

Dr. Kalam has received many presitgious awards for his distinguished contributions to the
defence of the country. He was honoured with Padma Bhushan in 1981 and with the Padma
Vibhushan in 1990. He received the Indira Gandhi Award for National Integration in 1997. Dr.
Kalam was awarded India’s highest Civilian honour, the Bharata Ratna on 25th November,
1997.

He was appointed as the Principal Scientific Advisor to the Government of India and given
the rank of Cabinet Minister on 25th November, 1999. He won the Lifetime Contribution
Award in Engineering presented by Shri K C Pant, the Deputy Chairman of the Planning
Commission on December 8, 2000.

Dr. Kalam was elected as the President of India on 25th July, 2002. It is a great honour for the
Indians to see such a great patriot to be the first citizen of our country.

He is a man of vision and wants to see India a fully developed nation by 2020. It is to this end
that his book “India 2020 : A Vision for the New Millennium” is focussed.

In his new book “Ignited Minds”, he affirms, “Our youth must dream, dream, dream! Convert
these dreams into thoughts; and then transform these thoughts into actions. We must think
big, having low aim is a sin”.
He always asks the teachers and the parents to be role models to the children. He attributes
his success to his parents, teachers and the team with which he has been working for the last

48 LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY