"Stop the car, there it is!"- I shouted. "Are you sure ?", asked others. "I know that is the one", I replied. Even our driver who was a local guy didn't knew about it, but I did!
A trip was planned to South India. Itinerary included Rameshwaram, Madurai, Kanyakumari and Thiruananthampuram. I planned to buy a book to read during the journey and hence bought 'Wings Of Fire'- autobiography of our late President Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. We started our journey from Delhi. After landing at Trivandrum(now Thiruananthampuram) airport, we halted at a guest house for the night. The journey to Rameshwaram began early morning the next day.
It was only then that I realized that our loving president now rests in peace at a place close to Rameshwaram. So I asked our driver to stop there as well. As I was reading his autobiography the curiosity to meet him, albeit after his death was increasing. His journey from a place like Rameshwaram, his downtrodden condition in childhood, developing SLV-3(Satellite Launch Vehicle) and AGNI missile and many other such feats are truly an inspiration. When we were about to reach his burial place,I realized, even the driver wasn't sure of the exact burial site, as he was enquiring from people around. We crossed the picturesque Pamban Bridge. I knew we were close. I was finally going to meet him. The driver increased the speed to reach fast only to overshoot the distance."Stop the car, there it is!"- I shouted. "Are you sure ?", asked others. "I know that is the one", I replied. (I had seen the broadcast of his funeral on a news channel which was exactly two months prior to my visit.)
And he was there, right in front of my eyes. The man who helped India in becoming a Superpower, the one who gave us indigenous technologies now rests in peace very close to a sea in serenity!
on the coastline,
with the National Flag fluttering,
and the sea breeze blowing,
is now Mr. Kalam resting!
What an honour it is to have the National Flag besides your grave! If only one tenth of our population can become one tenth as good a person and a patriot as he was, what cannot be achieved? He taught us how things can be done even when failures happen and how things are handled at the helm of affairs. Bharat Ratna, Padma Bhushan, Padma Vibhushan, Indira Gandhi Award for National Integration, Hoover Medal, Veer Savarkar Award, Ramanujan Award are only a few accolades that vindicate it.
I couldn't meet him when he was alive but I think it doesn't matter because he is still not dead. His spirit is alive and we have to make sure that we preserve his ideology. If only that can be done, he will live forever in our hearts! No doubt why he was called 'People's President'. A non-political person rarely reaches to that level but such a personality was our 'Missile Man' and the 'Most Loved President'- Dr. Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam!
It was a coincidence that I was reading his autobiography when we met. I hadn't planned it. I think I may be the first person to do that and I don't know why but I take pride in it. Things are not always according to our will but we should make sure that we are quick to adjust. On this note I'll conclude with lines(he didn't write these lines but quoted them) I liked in his autobiography:
God has not promised
Skies always blue,
Flower-strewn pathways
All our life through;
God has not promised
Sun without rain,
Joy without sorrow,
Peace without pain.
I hope I'll not be charged with plagiarism for copying it!
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