APJ Abdul Kalam
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| APJ Abdul Kalam Biography in English | Abdul Kalam | Inspirational Story |
Dr APJ Abdul Kalam full name is Dr. Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam. He was born into a conservative, middle-class Tamil family in Rameswaram in Madras in 1931. They lived on Mosque street. His father, Jainulabdeen, neither had any formal education nor was rich but provided a very secure childhood to his children, both materially and emotionally. He inherited honesty and self-discipline from his father, faith in goodness and kindness from his mother, Ashiamma.
APJ Abdul Kalam Biography in English | Abdul Kalam | Inspirational Story
During the second World War, in 1939, there was a shortage of tamarind seeds. Kalam used to collect them and sell them to a provision store on Mosque street, earning one anna. He helped his cousin Samsuddin, who used to sell newspapers, to catch the bundles thrown from a moving train on the Rameswaram road, between Rameswaram and Dhanuskodi, since the train had stopped halting at the Station. He paid Kalam for helping him. During the annual Sita Rama Kalyanam ceremony, Kalam's family used to arrange boats with a special platform for carrying Lord Rama's idols, from the temple to the marriage site, situated in the middle of the pond, close to their house.
APJ Abdul Kalam Biography in English | Abdul Kalam | Inspirational Story
He had three close friends in his childhood - Ramanadha Sastry, Aravindan and Sivaprakasan, who came from orthodox Brahmin families. Ramanadha Sastry was the son of Pakshi Lakshmana Sastry, the high priest of Rameswaram temple. Religious differences and upbringing did not come in the way of their friendship. Ramanadha Sastry later took over from his father, the priesthood of the temple : Aravindan went into the business of arranging transport for the pilgrims; and Sivaprakasan became a catering contractor for the Southern Railways.
APJ Abdul Kalam Biography in English | Abdul Kalam | Inspirational Story
Once, in fifth standard, a new teacher asked Kalam not to sit in the front row along with the high caste brahmin boys. Kalam saw Ramanadha Sastry weeping as he went to the last row. It had a lasting impression on Kalam. Lakshmana Sastry, Ramanadha's father summoned the teacher and told him not to spread the poison of social inequality and communal intolerance in the minds of innocent children.
Kalam was deeply influenced by his science teacher, Sivasubramania Iyer, an orthodox Brahmin, with a conservative wife. He was something of a rebel who did his best to break social barriers so that people from different backgrounds could mingle freely. One day he invited Kalam to his house for a meal but his wife refused to serve Kalam in her kitchen.
APJ Abdul Kalam Biography in English | Abdul Kalam | Inspirational Story
Sivasubramania did not get angry with his wife but instead served Kalam with his own hands and sat beside him to eat his meal. He again invited Kalam for dinner, the next week, this time his wife made Kalam sit in her kitchen and served food to him with her own hands.Kalam was sent to Ramanathapuram for higher studies. He told Kalam “Abdul! I know to have to go away to grow. "Does the seagull not fly across the sun, alone and without a nest" ? Kalam's father also consoled Kalam's hesitant mother by quoting from Khalil Gibran “Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself. They come through you but not from you. You may give them your love but not your thoughts. For them they have their own thoughts."
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