Read Online Turning Points by A P J Abdul Kalam - Free Book Online Page B

mission and you spent it on hatred,
Killing my delight, stifling life.
Know ye all: Khuda and Ram
Both are one, blossoming in love.’
    No rationalist can dispute Kalam’s vision of divinity. Some define God as truth; others as love. Kalam’s concept of godliness is compassion …
    I quote from him because I consider it a rare honour to have had a writer like him spend so much time analysing my work and presenting my way of thinking about God, religion and what constitutes a good human being.
    In giving we receive
    Of course some of you may be blessed with wealth. Here I present the story of a great human being who has given freely and spread happiness in the world. I received a personal invitation which said that I must come to inaugurate the 100th year celebrations of Sree Sree Sivakumara Swamigalu at Siddaganga Math in 2007. When I reached there, I saw a mammoth gathering of lakhs of devotees to greet the seer. Also on the dais were many political and spiritual leaders. After they had all spoken, Swamiji got up without any paper in his hand and gave an extempore speech blessing his devotees. I was astonished by the scene. A 100-year-old seer, standing erect, smilingly delivering his speech, made me ask myself how he had retained his energy and enthusiasm so well. It is only because he had been giving so freely, I thought, through the creation of hundreds of educational institutions, many orphanages and feeding thousands of needy people every day. His tireless mission of service and his effort to eradicate illiteracy and discrimination through giving has uplifted many people in the region. I was moved to write:
    WHAT CAN I GIVE?
    O my fellow citizens,
    In giving, you receive happiness,
    in body and soul.
    You have everything to give.
    If you have knowledge, share it.
    If you have resources, share them with the needy.
    Use your mind and heart,
    To remove the pain of the suffering,
    And cheer the sad hearts.
    In giving, you receive happiness.
    Almighty will bless all your actions.
    Interactions with PMs
    In the course of my functioning as director of DRDL, scientific adviser to the defence minister, principal scientific adviser to the Cabinet and as president of India, I have had an opportunity to interact with many great personalities like Dr Satish Dhawan, Dr Raja Ramanna, Dr V.S. Arunachalam, R. Venkataraman, P.V. Narasimha Rao, H.D. Deve Gowda, I.K. Gujral, Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Dr Manmohan Singh. These associations were extremely fruitful and they left an indelible mark in my mind. I learnt from Dr Satish Dhawan who was my boss and chairman of ISRO that when you execute complex missions you always encounter challenges and problems. He used to say that you should not allow problems to become your captain, you should become the captain of the problems, and defeat them and succeed. This is a great learning for anyone engaged in a complex mission. Dr Raja Ramanna and Dr Arunachalam showed the ability to recognize the value of the individual and would work hard to get the right individual for a complex task. R. Venkataraman as defence minister could foresee the needs of our country for large force multiplier systems for the Services and took a decision to mount such programmes which are paying off with large dividends today.
    Narasimha Rao was an extremely clear-headed person who had a grasp of every subject related to the development of the country. Once he was chairing a defence consultative committee when the director-general of supplies and transport, ASC (Army Supply Corps) was making a presentation about the performance of the dairy farms and their modernization plans. During the presentation, the DG mentioned that progressively they were weaning out the buffaloes and replacing them with Jersey cows. Rao was quick to realize that buffaloes are unique to our country, they can live in the tropics with cheap fodder and food and yield high-protein milk. The country cannot afford to lose this native wealth. Hence, he