APJ Abdul Kalam – The Missile Man of India

A.P.J Abdul Kalam was born on October 15,1931 to a poor Tamil Muslim family in Rameshwaram ,India. His father’s name was Jainulabudeen and mother’s name was Ashiamma. His mother was a housewife while his father owned a boat and use to take passengers between Rameswaram and Dhanushkodi. The income of the family was solely dependent on his father which was not enough to meet the family’s requirement so
he started working at very early age to support his family. He had done his schooling from Ramanathapuram Schwartz Matriculation school . His grades in school were average but he was told to be a very hard working student. After completing his school he started distributing newspapers in local areas to support his father. Later he took admission in Saint Joseph’s College,Tiruchirappalli ,India from where he graduated in physics in 1954. After his graduation he moved to madras and took admission in Madras Institute of Technology where he studied Aerospace engineering. During his engineering period ,the dean of college ,dissatisfied with
his performance warned him that if he didn’t submitted his project within 3 days then his scholarship will be terminated. Kalam requested for at least a month to which the dean refused.But due to his strong will power and dedication he anyhow successfully completed his project within 3 days for which he was greatly praised by the dean. Kalam wanted to become a fighter pilot in Indian Air Force .

He qualified every test of Indian Air Force (IAF) but at last due to shortage of seats he was not selected and has to drop his dream. He was a man of iron who never lost hope and believed in his caliber . Gradually time went on and who had thought that he would become one of the greatest scientist India ever had , honored by the highest civilian award of India i.e Bharat Ratna and become the 11th president of India. It is no doubt that he is a role model to many scientists ,youth, adults in India and abroad.

Apart from being a scientist ,professor,president etc Kalam was also an excellent writer.He wrote numerous books on motivation,development etc which became very successful. His popular books includes:

1.India 2020:A Vision for the New Millennium: This book focuses on the strength and weakness of India and how it can be transformed to come under the First Four economic powers of the world by the year 2020.

2. Wings Of Fire: This book is an autobiography of Kalam. This book details about his early life, hardships,efforts and eventually becoming one of the most successful scientist India ever had. This book is full of motivation and strongly recommended to every person in the world.

3. Ignited Minds: Unleashing the Power Within India: This books is full of inspirational messages from India’s former president A.P.J Abdul Kalam. This book contains ideas for rapid growth of India to realize India’s dream of becoming a developed country. This book is highly recommended to the youth of India.

4.Target 3 Billion: This book focuses on the problems faced by the rural India and suggests method to improve the standard of living in India.

5.Envisioning an Empowered Nation: This book focuses on the use of technology for transforming India into a developed nation by the year 2020.