Rocket scientist to rocking Prez APJ ABDUL KALAM OCTOBER 15, 1931

Anand, April 12, 2002. Nuclear scientist APJ Abdul Kalam put a question to the students of Anandalaya High School. ‘‘Who is our enemy?’’ ‘‘Poverty,’’ answered Snehal Thakkar. Later, she was delighted to find that, impressed by her answer, the man who would soon be President had dedicated his book, Ignited Minds, to her.
Kalam was a surprise candidate for President but when he left Rashtrapati Bhawan after five years, he was the most popular president ever. He flew in a Sukhoi, met soldiers at Siachen and answered every question on his website. The rocket scientist with a weird hairstyle who reached Rashtrapati Bhawan lock, stock and Veena, was the People’s President, bringing a breath of fresh air into the sprawling structure encrusted with tradition. Now that his term is over, he’s enthusiastically returned to his ‘‘real passion’’, teaching.
Kalam traversed the long, arduous road from selling newspapers and tamarind seeds in Rameswaram to the highest office in the country. In contrast to the sound and fury that has preceded the election of his successor, India’s first woman President, it was Kalam’s apolitical status that made him so popular. The fact that he was a technocrat and dabbled in missiles added to the Kalam mystique.
His life has taken interesting turns. When he could not become a pilot with the Indian Air Force, he trekked to the Himalayas to visit a swami, who advised him to accept cheerfully what was destined.
Then came his “big break”. After the successful development of a hovercraft, he was interviewed by Vikram Sarabhai and moved to Thumba, which was being developed as a rocket launching station. Sarabhai also asked him to design a Satellite Launch Vehicle and, after a failed attempt, it was launched successfully in 1980, ushering India into the space age. At DRDO he developed five missiles — Agni, Prithvi, Akash, Trishul and Nag.
He felt the nuclear bomb was necessary if India were to attain the status of a superpower. What better proof of this than Kalam being part of Pokhran?