The Man That Is KALAM

It's not who you are underneath but what you do that defines you !

The perks of being an IITian seemed very volatile and my recurrent fear of our over-burdened infrastructure yielding disappointment came true when denied entrance to, already over-crowded by then, Main Auditorium visited by Dr Abdul Kalam for the Golden Jublie Celebration of Student Gymkhana IIT-K. So after stuffing myself with some junk food at CCD I ended up sitting at L7 for the live telecast of the function while most other enthuiasts of meeting Dr Kalam were either driven away by trademark glitch transmission, poor video quality, and jarring sound that kept flicking and few remaining were beguiled into sleep, the usual  purpose the Lecture Hall Complex with its comfy air-conditioning serves best on most evenings, even before the auspicious dias were lit. 

Is he closest to what India could get to Einstein?

I am sure a lot of us were pondering over this question when Dr Kalam slouching, with all the dignity, graced the stage and watching his poised  decorum so apt for a senior scientist of his stature misled me into doubting his alias the Missile Man for I, maybe unlike others, had associated a lot of flamboyance or least to say animation with such an alias. Strengthening my doubt were the very few minutes of his speech that started with the usual pleasantries and congratulations followed by sharing of a life experience and  a suggestion to integrate various skills acquired at IIT-K.

But maybe it was the warmup Dr Kalam unlike his missiles does before he actually gets on the wings of fire to aspire the audience and unravel his true self which actually is as vigorous as those wings he rides on for the next fifteen minutes. It all begun with him reciting his poem, and the rest of us following, that sounded almost like one of his missiles, with very simple lyrics and yet so powerful and inspiring, lyrics going like "I have the wings, I have the confidence, I have the will, I will fly".

Dr Kalam, for the visionary he is, is well ahead of our time and that clearly shows when he talks about Indo-Pak relationships and predicts peace and union pertaining to fairly logical deductions from the European history, something all our politicians, diplomats and bureaucrats fail to do.  His explanation of India spending so much on nuclear weaponry, with a strata of society under poverty line, for inhibited development and independence is remarkable.

And finally what sets him apart, and answers my question too, is what lies at the core of his efforts and what he things would aspire us as it did him. Dr Kalam unlike the intellectuals and smooth talkers talks about  bringing a smile on faces of common Indian men. He, as far as I see, seem to be the only one amongst the scientific community to be driven by a passion that has origins linked to a social cause, someone who is working not only because he is passionate about his work but also has a goal that instead of being a scientific agenda is to touch the lives of Indian multitudes. And thus, for me it doesn't seems to be some rocket science to realize, what I am not going to put in words, The Man That Is KALAM.

Amit Kumar Koshta

AM 12:55

26-10-12