DR. APJ ABDUL KALAM

 

Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kalam was born on 15 October, 1931 to a Tamil Muslim family in Rameswaram, then in Madras Presidency in British India and now in Tamil Nadu. His father's name was Jainulabdeen, who was a boat owner and imam of a local mosque. His mother's name was Ashiamma, who was a housewife.

Abdul Kalam was the youngest of five siblings, the eldest was a sister, namely Asim Zohra and three elder brothers, namely Mohammed Muthu Meera Lebbai Maraikayar, Mustafa Kalam and Kasim Mohammed. He was close to his family and always helps them, though he remained the bachelor whole life.

His ancestors had been wealthy traders and landowners, with numerous properties and large tracts of land. They trade groceries between the mainland and the island to and from Srilanka and also ferrying the pilgrims from the mainland to the Pamban Island. So, their family got the title "Mara Kalam Iyakkivar" (wooden boat steerers) and later known as "Marakier."

But by 1920s, his family had lost most of his fortune; their businesses failed and by the time Abdul Kalam was born are in the stage of the poverty-stricken. To help the family, Kalam started selling newspapers at an early age.

In his school days, Kalam had average grades but was described as a bright and hardworking student who had a strong desire to learn. Mathematics was his main interest.

He had completed his matriculation from Schwartz Higher Secondary School, Ramanathapuram and later he went to Saint Joseph's College where he became a physics graduate. In 1955, he went to Madras to study aerospace engineering at Madras Institute of Technology.

During his third year of graduation, he was assigned a project to design a low-level attack aircraft together with a few other students. Their teacher had given them a tight deadline for completing the project, it was very difficult. Kalam worked hard under immense pressure and finally completed his project within the stipulated deadline. The teacher was impressed by the dedication of Kalam.

As a result, Kalam wants to become a fighter pilot but he got 9th position in the qualifiers list and only eight positions were available in the IAF.

A.P.J Abdul Kalam had completed his graduation in 1957 from the Madras Institute of Technology and in 1958 as a scientist, he had joined the Aeronautical Development Establishment of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

In the early 1960s, he worked with the Indian National Committee for Space Research (INCOSPAR) under the renowned space scientist Vikram Sarabhai.

He had started his career by designing a small hovercraft at DRDO. 

After visiting NASA's Langely Research Centre in Hampton, Virginia; Goddard Space Flight Centre in Greenbelt, Maryland and Wallops Flight Facility in 1963-64, he had started working on an expandable rocket project independently in 1965 at DRDO.

Later he joined ISRO and there he served as the project director of the SLV-III which successfully deployed the Rohini satellite in near-earth orbit in July 1980. It is India's first indigenously designed and produced a satellite launch vehicle. He directed many projects at ISRO.

Abdul Kalam was asked to lead the project and in 1983 he returned to DRDO as Chief Executive of IGMDP in 1983.

The programme led to the development of four projects namely Short range surface-to-surface missile (Prithvi), Short range low-level surface-to-air missile (Trishul), Medium range surface-to-air missile (Akash) and Third-generation anti-tank missile (Nag).

Under the leadership of Abdul Kalam, the project of IGMDP proved to be successful by producing missiles like the first Prithvi missile in 1988 and then the Agni missile in 1989. Due to his contribution, he was known as "Missile Man of India."

In 2002, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) was in power and nominate Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam for the post of the President of India. Being a popular national figure, he won the presidential election easily.

Life of Dr. Kalam is a milestone to reach the hight of success if one follows his route.

Our country will be proud to have more Kalam on this land.