The APJ Abdul Kalam we know less about: Anecdotes that show his simplicity

Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, one of India’s most respected leaders, passes away on Monday night after collapsing during a student address at IIM Shillong. Fondly known as Missile Man for his major role in developing India’s space programme, and People’s President for his simplicity during his tenure from 2002 to 2007, Kalam will best be known for his inspiring personality. A lot  has been said about APJ Abdul Kalam’s life and times - from his humble beginnings as a student who distributed newspapers to supplement the family’s income to  the 11th President of India. But there was much more to him outside the office— he was perhaps the best embodiment of the spirit of India. Here are some lesser known anecdotes about the late Dr Kalam that will make us appreciate him even more. He experienced failure early his career and learnt from it

Kalam was the project director when ISRO prepared to put a satellite in orbit way back in 1979. However, minutes before the launch, the computer detected an error in the system and asked the launch to be cancelled. Kalam, in his own words, said that he bypassed the computer and the satellite ended up in Bay of Bengal instead of space. In the convincingly honest speech, he said how he was frightened of the media and was inspired by ISRO Chief Satish Dhawan who addressed a press conference and asserted that they would succeed in a year. The rest, as we know, is history. He was a vegetarian and relished South Indian food [caption id=“attachment_2367474” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  APJ Abdul Kalam. PTI[/caption] A life-long vegetarian, Kalam enjoyed the simple pleasure in food as well.  One of his favourite  restaurant in Chennai was ‘Annalakshmi Hotel’, which he used to visit frequently before becoming the president. He is said to have relished the sambar, rasam and bonda there as well as his favourite dish of vatha kuzhambu and papad. As a youngster when he was placed in Thiruvananthapuram, he was a regular at the Guruvayurappan hotel. The owner, Parameshwaran Nair recalls how from 1975 to 1982, he served Kalam simple food. Every morning, he would take a glass of milk and two appams. For supper, he wanted only two chapattis and a glass of milk, he is quoted as saying by The Indian Express. He did not have a TV and preferred to get his news from the radio As strange as it seems, Kalam did not have a television set at home. Harry Sheridon, his personal secretary for the past 24 years, was quoted by NDTV as saying that he would listen to news on All India Radio. However, he used to check his emails on a daily basis. Sheridon also added that Kalam started his day at 6.30-7 am and was awake untill 2 am. He once took his junior’s kids out because their father was busy at work While he was a bachelor, the first bachelor President in fact, Kalam loved the company of children. A published account spoke about how when his subordinate at DRDO couldn’t take his children to an exhibition due to work pressure, Kalam surprised him and took the children in stead. He had immense respect for his teachers and even visited his old teacher days before his death

On 18 July, merely a week before his demise, Kalam had met Rev. Fr Ladislaus Chinnadurai, who taught him Physics and Thermodynamics at St Joseph’s College, Tiruchi, between 1950 and 1954. Kalam and Chinnadurai met for about 15 minutes and the 94-year-old Chinnadurai said he was happy to see Kalam. He recalled that Kalam was a brilliant student and that he used to take Physics classes with him for three hours everyday. Earlier, 83-year-old Kalam was given a rousing welcome by the priests at Beschi College. Kalam had even tweeted about this meeting. He refused to sit on a larger chair while President because he didn’t believe in hierarchy His humility is probably best described in this incident while he was President. Kalam was the Chief Guest at a convocation of IIT(BHU)Varanasi and saw that of the five chairs in stage, the centre one being designated for him while the others for University officials. But he refused to sit on it as was larger in size than the others, and offered it to the Vice Chancellor, who also refused and ultimately a different chair was got for him.  He invited a cobbler and a hotel owner as Presidential Guests Another incident that highlights Kalam’s simplicity is his Presidential Guest list to Kerala’s Raj Bhavan during his first visit to the state after becoming the President. He invited a road side cobbler and owner of a very small hotel as he had spent a significant time as a scientist in Trivandrum and was quite close to the two during that time. (With agency inputs)