Remembering the phenomenon that is Shri APJ Abdul Kalam

There are people who come into this world, rise against all odds, do things that are hereby unimaginable for a person of their upbringing and in the process – inspire millions and billions of people across the globe. Mr. Abdul Kalam is one such person.
Not many people have caught the world’s eye the way this man had captured it. And to think that he is no more leaves a hole that is going to take a long long time to fill.
Be it his almost single handed dedication for the rise of ISRO in India, which famously gave him the title of “the missile man” to being one of the most spectacular President’s of India to being awarded the Bharat Ratna , being known as a people’s representative all through, at the core of his personality was a dream to see India restore to its glory and a world of peace of harmony- and he wished to achieve this through the future of the world- children. At the very heart of his personality was this immense simplicity and love of children that made him rise above all.
I had my first brush with Mr kalam in my 6th standard, when I was part of a quiz competition based on his autobiography “wings of fire” . His story greatly inspired me- just as it had to billions of people before. Born in a poor household with barely enough means to carry on day-to-day activities to becoming a scientist and then president to what not. There is almost nothing  this man couldn’t achieve. And it was almost impossible to not be moved and inspired by it. It only made my longing to meet him grow stronger.
Luckily for me, he decided to visit our school in Visakhapatnam in India, and even better was the fact that I was the captain of my school and so would get the honour of welcoming him. My joy knew no bounds. I was tensed as well- the last thing I wanted was to screw the moment out of my tension and excitement combined.
But none of it happened. There was a huge rush of people to see him. But none of it mattered to him. He was there to speak to the students of our school, and I was there to receive him – and the one who got his attention.
He addressed us in the assembly and delivered a message that inspired us all. And through the entire speech , I stood there beside him- soaking in as much of him that I could. I could see the excitement running through everyone, could feel the burning eyes of the future of a nation resting on the actions of a small but strong man, and I got an idea of what it is to be loved and looked up to my almost everyone you come in contact with.  I had been studying in the same school since the past 10 years, and never did I feel the very walls of the building reverberate with the voices of the students repeating after him.
I showed him an art work of his as a representative of the students, and he shook my hands and congratulated me on the good work- thinking that it was I who had made the art! I got my first hand experience of what humility is and what really makes a person “great”.
I remember him quoting that “when I die, don’t declare a holiday. Work a day harder than ever if you really love me”.
The fact that he passed away while delivering a lecture at IIM Shillong, among students- addressing them and doing something he loved the most till his very last breath goes to show what a truly remarkable man he was.
His speeches, his words, his books, his actions, his contributions to science and his very being is sure to inspire people for generations to come.
Rest in peace Mr APJ Abdul Kalam

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Why reading is perhaps the best gift you can give yourself!

Imagine yourself waiting in a long queue of people for your turn on the counter. You look around, but don’t really find anything that you could do to while away the time. So you make a sullen face and continue waiting in the cue- cursing the reason why your mom asked you to go for the job and not herself.
OR
You find yourself in a long queue, and decide that it’s perhaps time to take out your phone and get lost in another world of poetry, perhaps prose or a cat-and-mouse hunt between the criminal and Sherlock Holmes, or just good old romance. You have no qualms with your mom and are totally at peace- if not a lil excited with what’s going to happen next in the plot!
You don’t really have to look far if your searching for means to keep you informed, entertained and experience a host of other emotions. All you need to do is pick up a book and get lost in its world.

Reading books is perhaps the easiest ticket you could give yourself to leading multiple lives. You don’t really have to be a movie star or a stage artist to do so. You could just live another life through the words of the author. You experience the character’s joys, sorrows, feelings, dreams, aspirations, desires, ambition and perhaps what not! And in doing so, you rediscover a part of yourself, sometimes even getting to know yourself better. The joy that you sometimes get when a situation in the book exactly matches yours and you find that the book is directly speaking to you is easily a priceless moment!

Sometimes, you might be wondering that there’s something you really want to do but don’t know how to go about doing it. All you have to do is pick up a self-help book. Almost every thought and action that you are planning to take has already been taken by someone else as well. So why not make the most of their experiences and choose the path you wish to take based on it; for isn’t it said that a wise man learns from other’s mistakes, whereas a fool learns from their own?
There’s so much to read out there that you might get lost in the world forever- which is not really a bad thing.  You might say people should rather go out and make friends and talk to people rather than sit in a room filled with books- which is nothing but one of the greatest paradoxes that you could encounter. For isn’t it through reading books and seeing things around that you learned to adopt this viewpoint?
Many people get scared or are too lazy to start reading a book. I remember how I got initiated into this habit.
It happened in my sixth standard. Some of us were selected to attend a conference being conducted at a hotel nearby. We arrived on time, only to find out that the event had been delayed for about two hours. So we were given a room to relax. My father had to leave to attend to some work, and so I was left with a bunch of juniors and their parents to converse with.

Most of the students were quiet- not saying much because probably they were scared of the company of strangers around. But there was this one girl, in her fifth standard, who was busy conversing with a friend and her father about the book she had finished reading- which happened to be Harry Potter and the order of phoenix. They were busy discussing what course the book is going to take- and out of nowhere- they asked for my opinion. I didn’t have a clue- for I hadn’t read the book, and so I remained silent saying that I didn’t know about it. Now, not having an opinion about something because you don’t know anything about it is perhaps the worst feeling that there is to have. The father of the girl tried again- seeing the disappointment on my face- and asked me to share about any of the books that I had read- or really liked. I was lost. All I could hope for was to somehow be sucked out of the place I was in.
The very next day- I got a library membership in our school- and began my journey into another world- a world, I would have no clue about had I not been so disappointed with myself from the other day!
So don’t wait for a day when you are going to get offended or repeatedly told to read a book. It’s a beautiful world out there, and the start needn’t be as bad as it was for me. If you’re so scared or lazy to read an entire 500 page book, then start off with something small- short stories or poetry could be a good place to start. Soon, you would begin to find areas or genres that really excite you- and then you could take the full plunge into this exciting world that has so much to offer and so little to take back from us. The fact that now- you don’t really have to carry a book physically but could have thousands of them in your kindle or phone only adds to the perks!

We do so many different things in life. There must be a time when you did something for the first time and were apprehensive about it, but later on- you became so comfortable with it that you even forgot your feelings about the first time you did it. I guess there’s no real harm in trying, is there?

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