KALAM MADE IN INDIA : An Humble Tribute

Doctor APJ Abdul Kalam, one of the greatest minds and teachers of our country is not here with us 
anymore. Or is he?
He is living in every ISRO launch, every research paper, in every science textbook, on every blackboard
and in every nuclear missile.
Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam is still alive. Our generation will pass on a little bit of APJ Abdul Kalam to the next 
generation, and them to the next generation, and it will continue. Don't worry, Dr. Kalam, if you teach 
us right, you're almost immortal. Who says you can't live forever? As long as a generation remembers 
your message, the idea of you remains alive and smiling.
Unlike many people, his own life is his message. A message that values inspiration with wisdom, 
purpose with process, humility with hunger.

He was always from the future. When, as kids, utmost of us were living in the time 2000, he was living 
in 2020. He was a regular Prometheus for numerous kiddies, he is always travelling into the future 
and bringing back ideas, systems, pretensions and a coherent positive vision for the country and its 
citizens.
He is an expert in defining the target audience. He knows the right age to make his mark and instil
such important values for my generation. He knows that motivating people because of their age 
makes no sense, and he knows how consistent people's way of life is after a certain age. So he 
focused all his energy on the seed, not the tree.
Like in the movie INCEPTION, I think he basically hacked our brains and implanted some very basic but 
powerful ideas, which unfortunately no one else wants to do. After his death, I now understand how 
he affected our value system in ways that not many of us knew when he was alive.
As an adult, I now know him as a capable scientist and project manager who has changed the 
geopolitical environment of our country. I now know that he led the project to develop India's first 
indigenous satellite launcher, which is now an integral part of the Indian space program and enables 
us to launch our own communications and defence satellites in space, as well as third-party 
communications and defence satellites.

His leadership of India's ballistic missile program convinced the government to classify the true nature
of these programs and national security funding without revealing them to the public. He also 
contributed to the development of Agni and Prithvi missiles. 
He was the main coordinator of the Bukhran-2 nuclear test. He was dressed in army uniform during 
these days of testing to keep the results of the upcoming nuclear test and its geopolitical implications 
a secret, even from the Indian Army until it was publicly announced by the Indian government.
He was an avid low-cost inventor who developed portable computers and low-cost stents for
coronary artery disease. While many of his projects went over cost and over time, others failed
completely. But the success of several major programs such as Prithvi and Agni nuclear missile
programs in India is due to these early failures.
India owes much of its defence technology and ambitions to Doctor in the 1970s and 1980s. Without
it, we do not have the confidence and courage to simultaneously take steps in the initial development 
of several unprecedented defence programs in the country. 
He is certainly an organized thinker. He has a deep technical mind and communication never betrays
the seriousness and criticality of his activities. He spoke to kids, like a kid. Like being an actual rocket 
scientist was not rocket science at all. Like it was simple, fun, like playing in a park. Like it was so easy, 
that anyone, even we, could do it.

He has inspired the next generation of kids because he knows that what they teach kids like us will 
emerge and trigger our responses at the right time in our lives. He always reminded us of all the 
science exhibitions, the quiz competitions, even our board exams. He had taught us kids that it was 
important, that it was a way for us to build our minds, careers and eventually our country.
We have learned that from him that strength and peace can coexist. Weakness is not a matter of 
pride, but rather a status quo that must be challenged and overcome. India's spirit is no less than that 
of Americans, Australians and Europeans, and that dignity comes not from necessity but from defence
policy and nuclear deterrence.
To have the right to build missiles and protect your country with nuclear warheads that can penetrate
enemy territory, you don't have to be rich or influential in the right place, and you don't have to be 
born in Bombay, Delhi or Bangalore. You can be born in a village in Tamil Nadu and sell newspapers to 
support your education as a child, and you can grow up with your thumb on the country's nuclear 
button. All you need is hard work, determination and the spirit of dreaming beyond reality.
Not a top-down motivator, just talking about this stuff without first-hand experience, at every stage of 
his life, he transcended reality and had the courage to overcome the current situation. He used to do 
this to himself many times, and eventually realized that he could do it for his country.
For Indian kids in a generation which had no real living role models in the sciences, in research, in 
innovation and definitely not in nuclear technology and defence, he filled a very important gap. He 
was arguably the most publicly known Indian scientist of our generation, nuclear or otherwise.
He is undoubtedly the most famous Indian scientist of our generation, nuclear or otherwise. Abdul 
Kalam was a person of a golden heart who has received ample awards and achieved many things 
during his life journey. In 1981 Abdul Kalam received the prestigious Padma Bhushan award. In 1990 
he received the Padma Bhushan award. The renowned personality, because of his tremendous effort 
towards the nation, received the Bharat Ratna in 1997. In the same year, he was awarded the Indira 
Gandhi Award for National Integration. The government of India awarded Kalam with the Veer 
Savarkar award in 1998. Because of his contribution to arts, science, and technology, he received the 
SASTRA Ramanujan prize in 2000. Finally, in the year 2013, the eminent personality was bestowed 
with the Von Braun Award by the National Space Society
On his birth anniversary we all salute this great man for inspiring us to be better in every task we do. 
We are grateful for such a great man to be born in our country and become a role model for billion

GOPSAI AVINANDAN SANGHA

Editor