What Can I Give ....Life lessons from A.P.J Abdul Kalam

Recently I bought a book ‘What  can I Give’ by Srinjan Pal Singh. I picked this book from the book stack of Lucknow airport. Well, what caught my eyes was that the book was about A.P.J Abdul Kalam and I had never read any book on him before. The book is a memoir of Abdul Kalam. It’s a tribute to a great teacher by one of his students and close associates, Srinjan Pal Singh.

A book on APJ Kalam by Srinjan Pal Singh 

It includes some very captivating anecdotes and experiences from the life of Abdul Kalam which are highly inspiring and enlightening.

The memoir successfully portrays the personality and takes us closer to the life of one of the greatest scientists and of course our ex-president of India. After reading the book I could easily comprehend the greatness of his personality that set him apart from several others.

From the book I tried to compile few incidents from his life that I found very intriguing and inspiring. These anecdotes speak a lot about the person he was.

Critical stakes ignite mind and awaken hidden potential: Kalam believed that critical stakes can lead to best results. Once when Mr. Kalam was in his third year of aeronautical engineering at Madras Institute of Technology(MIT), he along with his group was assigned a project to design an attack aircraft. Mr.Kalam was responsible for the aerodynamic and structural design of the project. Lot of hard work went into the making of the project. However, on evaluating the work, the teacher declared it disappointing.He was given a very short time to rework and present a better version of the same. It was further added that if he(Kalam) failed to get the proper configuration his scholarship could be cancelled. 

It was a big setback for Mr.Kalam as scholarship was his lifeline. There was no option but to take the challenge head on. 

He along with his team worked day and night, skipping meals and sleeps. Finally, the day when it was almost done and Mr.Kalam was working in the lab, the professor entered the lab to assess his progress. He looked at his work and hugged him affectionately. 

The next few words that came from the teacher overwhelmed Mr.Kalam, "I knew I was putting you under lot of stress and asked you to meet difficult deadline but you did a great job with the system design”.

From this incident Mr.Kalam learnt that critical stakes at times brings out the best in us, it increases the capacity manifold. He always believed that one should never get bogged down by the difficulties but rise stronger against them.

Great people are not merely intelligent, smart and productive but also sensitive, compassionate and optimistic. Mr.Kalam was one such man with a blend of all these qualities.

Love for Nature : He was very close to nature. He never missed an opportunity to appreciate and admire the gifts of nature.  In fact one of the trees in his residential garden at10 Rajaji Marg was his very good friend. Tall and majestic, the tree was named Arjuna. Arjuna that stood sturdy for many decades was a witness to several historical moments and personalities. Mr.Kalam often walked up to him and spent some time with him, sharing thoughts that nobody knew. Once he revealed to Srinjan that he admired Arjuna a lot because of its giving spirit. It provided oxygen, shade and most importantly it was a home to several birds.

During Mr.Kalam's stay at Rajaji Marg residence , several birds and their new arrivals became his housemates. He always ensured that the birds were properly fed and taken care off even when he was out of town.

Importance of Parents: He had great regards for parents, especially mothers. He wished all children took proper care of their parents. He often discussed heartbreaking stories of his own friends and colleagues who failed to give deserving respect to their parents.

In one of his official visits he met a mother who came with his teenage son affected by polio. She was carrying the boy as he could not support himself. Mr.Kalam was very touched by the lady whose love had given her the strength to carry the weight of a grown up boy and the power to nurture his dream. He gave his blessings to the boy who dreamed to become a chess grandmaster. He said to the boy that with strong will power and hard work he can achieve his dream but he must always remember the role of his mother in his journey who dedicated her life to fulfill his dream. Hearing these words the mother was in tears.

Mr.Kalam’s sensitivity towards parent’s emotions was commendable. Once he even wrote a beautiful poem for his mother. He understood the importance of their role in a child’s life and hence always appreciated and valued it the most.

Champion of Humility: Mr. Kalam was well-known for his humble nature. He was highly respected for his humility that was innate and not manufactured. His every simple act reflected this special quality. His humility was evident when he wiped his own table after lunch, when he wore simplest clothes and when he cleaned his books and other articles himself. He enjoyed meeting the ordinary citizens of the country and patiently listened to them.

He was often invited to several high-end educational institutes and colleges. He made sure these visits were followed up with visits to some small institutions. This was his way of connecting with less privileged children which he loved. He never missed an opportunity to enlighten and encourage young minds to dream high even in the paucity of funds and other problems.

Once Mr.Kalam was invited to a college function that catered to the students of low-income families.  Before attending the event the Kalam’s team had attended a grand function organised by a corporate firm. When the authorities of the college came to know about the prior grand function, they felt little embarrassed about their modest celebration.

The principal apologised Mr.Kalam for their minimal arrangements and assured that they would manage something bigger next time. To this he responded, “Yes, try to collect as many resources as possible”. This reply surprised everyone. But then soon Mr.Kalam added , "With all the resources you should try to help the weaker sections of your students and incorporate better scholarships. That should be the goal". Then he praised the principal for his efforts  and encouraged him to keep up the commendable work.

These words made the principal very happy and proud. Kalam always managed to highlight the good efforts and honor of a person's work. A great leader in him always enabled others to discover their self worth.

Respecting and Celebrating Differences: Mr.Kalam always advocated that differences should be respected. As per him a great society can be achieved when there is tolerance of opinions, cultures, beliefs and personal lifestyles.

Mr.Kalam although being a Muslim had been a strict vegetarian for major part of his life.  There is an interesting anecdote related to this. He once disclosed Srijan that he was not vegetarian since birth but chose so for financial reasons. During his MIT Aeronautics days, the veg meal of the mess used to be the most reasonable one so he opted for it in order to avoid any extra burden on his parents. Over a period of time he started enjoying veg and since then he quit non veg completely. But he had no problems asking his cook to serve non veg items for his associates and staff. He loved seeing them enjoy non-veg. He was always very considerate of others cultures and habits and customs.

An Inspirational Teacher: Once when asked what he wanted to be remembered as- A president, a scientist or a missile man, his answer was a 'Teacher'.No wonder he was an exemplary teacher. Whoever met him got so much to learn from him. He was a treasure trove of wisdom and knowledge. He loved reading and books were his most treasured items.

In 1980s a young man who had joined army as sepoy was deputed as the driver of Dr.Abdul  Kalam(the then senior scientist). Mr.Kalam noticed that the man was a curious reader who spent most of his free time in reading whatever he got hands on. This was just a cue for Mr.Kalam. He motivated the young man who was a tenth fail to pursue higher studies . He helped him in all possible ways so that the man could continue his studies. Kalam even took out time to teach him English, his weakest subject. He developed a student-mentor relationship with his driver, Kathiresan. 

Under his guidance and within a decade of joining Kalam's office, kathiresan passed tenth, twelfth, B.A, M.A, B.ed and Med exams. Later, when he parted ways with Kalam, he continued his educational journey and pursued his passion for learning which Kalam had instilled in him. In 2010, eventually he was appointed as professor at Govt College.

APJ Kalam was a man of great stature, a man of myriad qualities, no wonder he ruled on millions of hearts.

He wanted to do a lot for the country. He was very hopeful of the youth of India. He believed that youth of India and good education system supported by values can lead to evolution of better and enlightened society.

"I believe that when the youth all over the world come together for creating a better society and better earth, then all the conflicts between the nations will cease". These were his last words(while addressing the students of IIM, Shillong) before he left for his heavenly abode.  

With his demise India lost a great thinker and a great teacher. But it is believed that great people like A.P.J Abdul Kalam never die. They just transform from mortal humans to immortal lessons....lessons carried over generations.(quote from the book)

At last i would like to say that the book 'What Can I Give' is a wonderful piece of work. I recommend you all to go for the book, it will be an enriching experience for sure :)