Category Famous Personalities

In 1958, when Dr. Kalam came out of HAL as a graduate of aeronautical engineering, he had two options for employment in flying. One was the job at the Directorate of Technical Development and Production (DTD&P) (Air) of the Ministry of Defence and another was a career in the Indian Air Force. He had applied to both the places and received interview calls simultaneously.

He went to Delhi for an interview with DTD&P, in which he performed well because of his knowledge in the subject. Then he went to Dehradun for the interview with the Air Force Selection Board. But here, the interview was more on personality rather than testing his knowledge. He came ninth in the batch of 25, and the first eight officers were selected to be commissioned in the Air Force.

After returning to Delhi, Kalam received his appointment letter from DTD&P and he joined as Senior Scientific Assistant the very next day with a basic salary of Rs. 250 per month. At DTD&P, he was posted at the Technical Centre (Civil Aviation). During his initial years in the Directorate, he worked on supersonic target aircraft with the help of his officer-in-charge, R. Varadharajan, which got him the appreciation of the Director, Dr. Neelakantan. Then he was sent to the Aircraft and Armament Testing Unit (AP&ATU) at Kanpur to get shop-floor exposure to aircraft maintenance.

In 1968, the groups of officers under the Chief Resident Engineer of DTD&P were brought under the control of DRDO. Thus, Dr. Kalam became a part of DRDO.

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Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam studied at the Schwartz Higher Secondary School in Ramanathapuram. Though he had only average grades, he had the mindset to work harder. Kalam was aware of his father’s dream of him becoming an IAS officer and wanted to fulfil it. At the age of 15, he met lyadurai Solomon, who became a perfect guide for the young boy. Solomon told Abdul Kalam that a hard worker like him would be able to achieve anything with the power of education. He inspired young Kalam, who had high hopes for the future.

While studying at Schwartz he grew up as a confident boy. He was determined to succeed and fulfil his parents’ dream. Later he joined St. Joseph’s College, Tiruchirapalli, in 1950 and gave his intermediate examinations. When he was in his final year at St. Joseph’s, Kalam started to love English literature. He was very fond of reading great classics by writers like Tolstoy and Thomas Hardy; he even developed an inclination towards philosophy. It was by this time that he also developed an interest in Physics. Prof. Chinna Durai and Prof. Krishnamurthy, who were his Physics teachers at St. Joseph’s, introduced him to the beautiful and intriguing concepts of Physics.

He had a very limited knowledge about other subjects when he was at St. Joseph’s college and soon realized that the subject he enjoyed the most was engineering. So he applied to the Madras Institute of Technology (MIT). Although he was on the merit list, the institute was very expensive. His sister Zohra had to sell her gold ornaments to send him to study there.

At MIT, young Kalam was intrigued by the numerous aircraft that were on display. He opted for aeronautical engineering after his first year at MIT. In the institute, Kalam was working on a senior class project, and his Dean was dissatisfied with the lack of progress. He asked Kalam to finish the project within the next three days. Kalam met the deadline, impressing the Dean, who later said to him, “l was putting you under stress and asking you to meet a difficult deadline”.

After completing his third year at MIT, Kalam joined Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), Bangalore, as a trainee. He worked on piston and turbine engines at HAL as a part of a team. Here he came to know about the technical aspects of an aircraft.

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Inspired by his teacher and driven by his passion for studies, young Kalam wanted to leave Rameswaram because this place did not offer any options for higher education. It only had an elementary school, and in order to study further, he had to go to the district headquarters at Ramanathapuram, which had many educational facilities.

Kalam’s father was not an educated man but he understood the significance of education. He did not want to stop the growth of his children in any way; so, he willingly allowed Kalam to go to Ramanathapuram to pursue higher studies. He never expressed his opinions in words, but he trusted his son’s decision to grow. Kalam’s father knew that just like the birds that leave their nests to fly across the skies, children must be allowed to leave home and find their place in the world outside.

Apart from accepting it himself, his father convinced Kalam’s mother by quoting Khalil Gibran. It was a quote that meant that all human beings must be given the opportunity to build their life as per their wishes and that parents should not stop them in their efforts.

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Dr. Kalam had his early Schooling at the Rameshwaram Elementary School. His then teacher, Sivasubramania Iyer hailed from an orthodox Brahmin family, but he was very broadminded. He was a rebel who wanted the society to change, and was ready to face the challenges on the way. In one of the incidents, his wife refused to serve food to young Kalam, whom he had invited to his home. As a response, he himself served the boy and went on to invite the boy the next weekend as well.

Although Kalam was reluctant to visit Iyer’s home, this time he was welcomed by Iyer’s wife and she took him to the kitchen and served him food with her own hands. This was a great instance where Iyer reformed his wife not by force but by setting an example. Sivasubramania Iyer refused to believe that caste and religion segregate people and advised Kalam to be prepared to face such situations if he wished to change the system.

Iyer was also a dedicated teacher and established a good rapport with his students. He encouraged them to aim higher. He encouraged young Kalam to study further and to develop so that he could be “on par with the highly educated people of the big cities.”

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“Every child is born, with some inherited characteristics, into a specific socio-economic and emotional environment, and trained in certain ways by figures of authority,” wrote Dr. Kalam in his autobiography, Wings of Fire.

Dr. Kalam always understood that the acceptance of religions was a way of life and that we live in a society where religions confluence. Young Kalam had three close friends, all three of them from orthodox Brahmin families. Though from different backgrounds and up-bringing, his friendship with Ramanadha Sastry, Aravindan, and Sivaprakasan never had any problems.

All of them chose different ways of life in their adulthood as well. Ramanadha Sastry, who was the son of Pakshi Lakshmana Sastry, the high priest of the Rameswaram temple, took over the priesthood of the Rameswaram temple from his father. Aravindan went into the business of arranging transport for visiting pilgrims, Sivaprakasan became a catering contractor for the Southern Railways, and Kalam went on to become a scientist.

Another interesting story in Dr. Kalam’s upbringing is that his family used to arrange boats with a special platform during the annual Shri Sita Rama Kalyanam ceremony. This platform was used for carrying the idols of Lord Rama from the temple to the ceremonial wedding site ‘Ram Tirtha’, which was a pond near Kalam’s house. Young Kalam grew up listening to the stories both from the Ramayana and the life of the Prophet Muhammed, laying the foundation of secularism very early in his life.

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A person knows the value of work when he has been through difficult times and has survived on simple jobs. Dr. Kalam used to collect tamarind seeds and sell them during the Second World War. He also worked as a newspaper boy.

Kalam was only eight years old when the Second World War broke out. It was the year 1939 and there was a huge demand for tamarind seeds in the market. He collected them and sold them for an anna, a very small coin, but substantial for a young boy like him.

His brother-in-law Jallaluddin used to tell him stories about the war and young Kalam would try to follow these stories through the pages of Dinamani, a Tamil newspaper. Although Rameswaram was not directly impacted by the war as it was an isolated island, trains stopped halting at the station. This meant bundles of newspapers were now thrown off running trains. Kalam’s cousin Samsuddin, who used to distribute the newspapers in Rameswaram, asked Kalam’s help to catch the bundles, and he thus started working as a newspaper boy.

Kalam earned his first wages in this work and it gave him a great sense of self-confidence and pride.

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