He is just himself and that’s what has endeared him most to the citizens. Spontaneous and down to earth, with no pretensions of what the office of the President gave him, A P J Kalam won the heart of the masses in the wave of a hand and his casual address of “friends” wherever he went.
Five years was more than enough to know the man who spoke openly to the people of his nation, especially the children, with the zeal of a missionary who wanted to “ignite love for science” in the young minds.
Whether one should call him a teacher first and then a scientist, a philosopher or a technocrat, a visionary or a missile man, could be a tough decision. He is all that and more.
President Kalam can take two controversial topics and merge them with ease. Like when he insists that “spirit and matter are both a part of existence” but adds that it is wrong to feel shameful to desire material things. This is a man who can as easily talk of punya atma as he can talk about the range of the Agni missile. He will talk at length about the remarkable qualities of Vidura in Mahabharata as well as what Prophet Mohammed advocates. If there is one subject that occupies a special corner of his heart and mind, it is science and technology and what it can do to transform lives.
When asked by children on what makes him happy, he had no hesitation in saying that it was the sight of heart patients carrying KR coronary stents and handicapped children fitted with FRO callipers. Both are spin-offs from missile technology.
While advocating peace, Kalam has no qualms in the country pursuing nuclear weapons. “Can India be a silent spectator? Strength respects strength and not weakness. Strength means military might and economic prosperity,” he says in Ignited minds.
President Kalam has chided the people of the country for belittling ourselves. Perhaps it is in our genes, he wonders even as he voices concern about the inertia that has gripped the national psyche, a “mindset of defeat” which he battles in his Wings of Fire.
Whether it is in reading his books, or in listening to him as he addresses audiences, there is plenty of inspiration President Kalam provides.
For this is a man who prefers to learn by mistakes and gives importance to persistence over perfection. Openness and teamwork over petty rivalries. National pride over and above everything. A First Citizen in the true sense.