The inspiring interview of Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, Former president of India.
He says ‘A Leader Should Know How to Manage Failure‘, and says “Learning gives creativity. Creativity leads to thinking. Thinking provides knowledge. Knowledge makes you great.”
His life itself inspiring and will motivate everyone.
Apart from being a notable scientist and engineer, Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam has served as the 11th President of India from 2002 to 2007.
During his term as India’s President, he was popularly known as the People’s President.
Before his term as India’s president, he worked as an aeronautical engineer with DRDO and ISRO. He is popularly known as the Missile Man of India for his work on development of ballistic missile and space rocket technology. Kalam takes important roles in India’s Pokhran-II nuclear test in 1998
People especially Students love and respect Kalam so much.
APJ Abdul Kalam is a man of vision, who is always full of ideas aimed at the development of the country. He firmly believes that India needs to play a more assertive role in international relations.
Dr. Kalam had received honorary doctorates from 30 universities and institutions, and he is the recipient of many awards including India’s highest award Bharath Ratna.
Abdul Kalam has written many books such as “Wings of Fire” (An Autobiography of APJ Abdul Kalam), “India 2020 – A Vision for the New Millennium”, “My journey” and “Ignited Minds – Unleashing the power within India”
Kalam has proposed a research program for developing bio-implants and Space solar power. And, he is a supporter of Open Source (e.g Linux, Mozilla FireFox, php, apache) over proprietary solutions and believes that the use of free software on a large scale will bring the benefits of information technology to more people.
And, he is doing teaching and research tasks. Above all he took up a mission to ignite the young minds for national development by meeting high school students across the country.
His book ‘India 2020′ highlights the action plans that will help develop the India into a knowledge superpower by the time 2020.
And, his poems and Quotes inspire young minds.
Find below one of his Poems “Indomitable Spirit”
I was swimming in the sea,
Waves came one after the other
I was swimming and swimming to reach my destination.
But one wave, a powerful wave, overpowered me;
It took me along in its own direction,
I was pulled long and along.
When I was about to lose amidst the sea wave power,
One thought flashed to me, yes, that is courage
Courage to reach my goal, courage to defeat the powerful force and succeed;
With courage in my mind, indomitable spirit engulfed me,
With indomitable spirit in mind and action,
I regained lost confidence
I can win, win and win
Strength came back to me, overpowered the sea wave
I reached the destination, my mission.
Find below Kalam’s another poem “Vision”
I climbed and climbed
Where is the peak, my Lord?
I ploughed and ploughed,
Where is the knowledge treasure, my Lord?
I sailed and sailed,
Where is the island of peace, my Lord?
Almighty, bless my nation
With vision and sweat resulting into happiness
Find below the collection of Great Quotes of Abdul Kalam.
As a child of God, I am greater than anything that can happen to me.
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Climbing to the top demands strength, whether it is to the top of Mount Everest or to the top of your career.
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Do we not realize that self respect comes with self reliance?
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Educationists should build the capacities of the spirit of inquiry, creativity, entrepreneurial and moral leadership among students and become their role model.
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God, our Creator, has stored within our minds and personalities, great potential strength and ability. Prayer helps us tap and develop these powers.
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Great dreams of great dreamers are always transcended.
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I was willing to accept what I couldn’t change.
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If a country is to be corruption free and become a nation of beautiful minds, I strongly feel there are three key societal members who can make a difference. They are the father, the mother and the teacher.
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If we are not free, no one will respect us.
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Life is a difficult game. You can win it only by retaining your birthright to be a person.
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Look at the sky. We are not alone. The whole universe is friendly to us and conspires only to give the best to those who dream and work.
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Man needs his difficulties because they are necessary to enjoy success.
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My view is that at a younger age your optimism is more and you have more imagination etc. You have less bias.
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No religion has mandated killing others as a requirement for its sustenance or promotion.
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Those who cannot work with their hearts achieve but a hollow, half-hearted success that breeds bitterness all around.
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To succeed in your mission, you must have single-minded devotion to your goal.
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We must think and act like a nation of a billion people and not like that of a million people. Dream, dream, dream!
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We should not give up and we should not allow the problem to defeat us.
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We will be remembered only if we give to our younger generation a prosperous and safe India, resulting out of economic prosperity coupled with civilizational heritage.
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You have to dream before your dreams can come true.
APJ Abdul Kalam was born on 15th October 1931 in a middle-class family in a village Rameshewaram in Tamil Nadu , India. His father, a devout Muslim, owned boats which he rented out to local fishermen and was a good friend of Hindu religious leaders and the school teachers at Rameshwaram.
APJ Abdul Kalam mentions in his biography that to support his studies, he started his career as a newspaper vendor. Daily early morning he used to go to Rameshwaram Road Railway Station, three kilometers away to collect News Papers after finishing his tuition.
