My Childhood

1.0About the Author

Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam (15 October 1931-27 July 2015) was an Indian aerospace scientist who served as the 11th president of India from 2002 to 2007. He was born and raised in Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu and studied physics and aerospace engineering. He spent the next four decades as a scientist and science administrator, mainly at the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and was intimately involved in India's civilian space programme and military missile development efforts. He thus came to be known as the Missile Man of India for his work on the development of ballistic missile and launch vehicle technology. He also played a pivotal organisational, technical, and political role in India's Pokhran-II nuclear tests in 1998, the first since the original nuclear test by India in 1974.

Kalam was elected as the 11th president of India in 2002. Widely referred to as the 'People's President', he returned to his civilian life of education, writing and public service after a single term. He was a recipient of several prestigious awards, including the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honour.

2.0Central Idea

This chapter is an excerpt from APJ Abdul Kalam's autobiography, 'Wings of Fire'. Here we come to know about Kalam's childhood. This excerpt talks about the early days of Kalam. In addition, the chapter gives us brief insight of how the childhood of Abdul Kalam prepared him to become not only a successful scientist but also the President of India in the future. Here we come to know about his family which has much to do with his upbringing. He also mentions about his friends who belonged to orthodox Hindu Brahmin families. They too played important roles in his life. All in all, we can say that in this section of 'Wings of Fire' Kalam mentions everything that had an impact on his life. These things turned him into the 'missile man' that we know him as.

3.0Kalam's Birth and Childhood

Abdul Kalam was born into a middle-class Tamil family in Rameswaram. Kalam had three brothers and one sister. His parents were kind-hearted and simple people with great moral values. His family lived in his ancestral house built in Mosque Street. His father's priorities were to fulfil the necessities of his family. His mother was very kind-hearted who fed a large number of people every-day. His austere father avoided all inessential comforts and luxuries, but all necessities were provided for, in terms of food, medicine or clothes. He had a very secure childhood, both materially and emotionally. The Second World War broke out in 1939, when he was eight years old. Kalam would collect tamarind seeds and sell them to a provision shop on Mosque Street which fetched him one anna per day. He would come to know about the War from the headlines of Dinamani. India was forced to join the Allied Forces and something like a state of emergency was declared. The first casualty came in the form of the suspension of the train halt at Rameswaram station. The newspapers now had to be bundled and thrown out from the moving train on the Rameswaram Road between Rameswaram and Dhanuskodi. Kalam took this job of collecting the bundles and earned his first wages, for which he feels pride till date.

4.0New Teacher's Casteist Action

Kalam inherited honesty and self-discipline from his father. From his mother, he inherited faith in goodness and deep kindness just like his siblings. He had three close friends in his childhood — Ramanadha Sastry, Aravindan and Sivaprakasan from orthodox Hindu Brahmin families. They all lived happily without any difference amongst themselves because of our religious differences and upbringing. Ramanadha Sastry was the son of Pakshi Lakshmana Sastry, the high priest of the Rameswaram temple. Later, he 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. His family used to arrange boats with a special platform for carrying idols of the Lord from the temple to the marriage site called Rama Tirtha during the annual Shri Sita Rama Kalyanam ceremony. His mother and grandmother would tell the children events from the Ramayana and from the life of the Prophet as bed-time stories. When he was in the fifth standard at the Rameswaram Elementary School, a new teacher came to their class. He saw Kalam sitting next to Ramanadha Sastry on the first bench. He discriminated between the boys and asked Kalam to sit on the last bench. Lakshmana Sastry summoned the teacher and told the teacher that he should not spread the poison of social inequality and communal intolerance in the minds of innocent children. He even asked the teacher to either apologise or quit the school and the island. The teacher regretted his behaviour, and the strong sense of conviction Lakshmana Sastry conveyed ultimately reformed the young teacher.

5.0Kalam's Inheritance of Human Values

Kalam's science teacher Sivasubramania Iyer, though belonged to an orthodox Brahmin family, was something of a rebel. He had a very conservative wife. He did his best to break social barriers so that people from varying backgrounds could mingle easily. He would spend hours with Kalam and wanted him to develop so that he comes on par with the highly educated people of the big cities. He invited Kalam to his home for a meal. His wife was horrified at the idea of a Muslim boy being invited to dine in her ritually pure kitchen. She refused to serve him in her kitchen. Sivasubramania Iyer served him with his own hands and sat down beside him to eat his meal. Sivasubramania Iyer invited him to join for dinner again the next weekend. When he visited his house the next week, Sivasubramania Iyer's wife took him inside her kitchen and served him food with her own hands.

Then the Second World War was over and India's freedom was imminent. Kalam asked his father's permission to leave Rameswaram and study at the district headquarters in Ramanathapuram. His father quoted Khalil Gibran to his hesitant mother, "Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of life's longing for itself. They come through you but not from you. You may give them your love but not your thoughts. For they have their own thoughts."

6.0Recall

• Abdul Kalam was born in a Tamil family in the island town of Rameswaram in the erstwhile Madras State.
• His father, Jainulabdeen, was a generous man who had neither much formal education nor much wealth; yet, he possessed great inborn wisdom.
• His mother, Ashiamma was a very hospitable woman who fed a lot of people every day.
• Kalam inherited the qualities of honesty and self - discipline from his parents.
• He had three brothers and one sister. Physically, Kalam was a short boy with rather undistinguished looks.
• They lived in their ancestral house, which was built in the middle of the nineteenth century.
• Kalam had a very secure childhood, both materially and emotionally.
• Kalam was only 8 years old when the Second World War broke out in 1939.
• Kalam collected tamarind seeds and sold them to a provision shop on Mosque Street for its sudden increase in demand which would make him earn the princely sum of one anna.
• His cousin Shamsuddin distributed newspapers and needed a helping hand.
• Kalam came out and this way he earned his first wages.
• He inherited honesty and self-discipline from his father and faith in goodness and deep kindness from his mother.
• He had three close friends from orthodox Hindu Brahmin families in his childhood Ramanadha Sastry, Aravindan and Sivaprakasan.
• All these boys belonged to orthodox Hindu Brahmin families.
• Ramanadha Sastry was the son of Pakshi Lakshmana Sastry, the high priest of the Rameswaram temple.
• They adopted different professions when they grew up.
• When Abdul was in 5th standard at the Rameshwaram Elementary School, a new teacher came to their class.
• At that time Kalam used to wear a cap, which marked him as a Muslim.
• Kalam would always sit in the front row- next to his friend Ramanadha Sastry.
• The teacher could not tolerate a Hindu Priest's son sitting with a Muslim boy.
• He asked Kalam to sit on the back bench.
• Both the friends felt very sad and told their parents about the incident after school.
• Ramanadha's father summoned the teacher and told him not to spread the poison of communal hatred and social inequality in the minds of young innocent children.
• He even told the teacher to either apologize to Kalam or leave the school and city.
• The teacher apologized and reformed himself.
• Once Abdul's science teacher invited him to dinner at his home.
• His wife refused to serve Kalam dinner in her pure kitchen as she believed in religious segregation.
• The teacher himself served him food and sat beside him to eat his own meal.
• His wife observed from behind the door and did not find any change in Abdul's behaviour.
• After dinner, the teacher again invited him to join them next weekend.
• This time the wife was changed as she served food inside the kitchen with her own hands.
• After the second world war ended, Kalam asked his father to permit him to go to Ramanthapuram to study.
• His father knew that Kalam would have to go away to grow up and so he permitted him.
• He told his hesitant wife that they should give their children their love but, not force their thoughts on them.