Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kalam also ex-president of Republic of India
left to heaven on 27th July 2015. Before his term as the President of India,
Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam worked as an Aerospace Engineer with DRDO & ISRO
also he was the chief executive of IGMDP, where he where he was involved in
developing many missiles of India including Agni (April 1999) & Prithvi
(February 1988). He was amongst the best scientist in the world & was also
known as the missile man of India for his work on the development of ballistic missile
& launch vehicle technology. In 1998, Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kalam along with
cardiologist Dr. Soma Raju developed a low-cost coronary stent. It was later
named ‘Kalam-Raju Stent’ honouring them. He will always be remembered as one of
the best idols for Indian Youth. He never got married as he believed that
marriage & children would lead to selfishness towards life & he wanted
to dedicate his life to serve the nation.
Sharing below Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kalam’s letter that he wanted
all Indians to read.
Why are we in India so embarrassed to recognize our own
strengths, our achievements? We are such a great nation. We have so many
amazing success stories but we refuse to acknowledge them. Why?
We are the first in milk production.
We are number one in Remote sensing satellites.
We are the second largest producer of wheat.
We are the second largest producer of rice.
Look at Dr. Sudarshan, he has transferred the tribal village
into a self-sustaining, self-driving unit. There are millions of such
achievements but our media is only obsessed in the bad news and failures and
disasters. I was in Tel Aviv once and I was reading the Israeli newspaper. It
was the day after a lot of attacks and bombardments and deaths had taken place.
The Hamas had struck. But the front page of the newspaper had the picture of a
Jewish gentleman who in five years had transformed his desert into an orchid
and a granary. It was this inspiring picture that everyone woke up to. The gory
details of killings, bombardments, deaths, were inside in the newspaper, buried
among other news.
In India we only read about death, sickness, terrorism,
crime.. Why are we so NEGATIVE? Another question: Why are we, as a nation so
obsessed with foreign things? We want foreign T.Vs, we want foreign shirts. We
want foreign technology.
Why this obsession with everything imported. Do we not
realize that self-respect comes with self-reliance?
I was in Hyderabad giving this lecture, when a 14 year old
girl asked me for my autograph. I asked her what her goal in life is. She
replied: I want to live in a developed India . For her, you and I will have to
build this developed India . You must proclaim. India is not an under-developed
nation; it is a highly developed nation.
YOU say that our government is inefficient.
YOU say that our laws are too old.
YOU say that the municipality does not pick up the garbage.
YOU say that the phones don’t work, the railways are a
joke. The airline is the worst in the world, mails never reach their
destination.
YOU say that our country has been fed to the dogs and is the
absolute pits.
YOU say, say and say. What do YOU do about it?
Take a person on his way to Singapore. Give him a name –
(Yours). Give him a face – (Yours). You walk out of the airport and you are
your International best. In Singapore you don’t throw cigarette butts on the
roads or eat in the stores. You are as proud of their Underground links as they
are… You pay $5 (approx. Rs. 60) to drive through Orchard (equivalent to Mahim
Causeway or Peddar Road) between 5 PM & 8 PM. You come back to the parking
lot to punch your parking ticket if you have over stayed in a restaurant or
shopping mall irrespective of your status identity… In Singapore you don’t say
anything. DO YOU? YOU won’t dare to eat in public during Ramadan, in Dubai… You
would not dare to go out without your head covered in Jeddah. You would not
dare to buy an employee of the telephone exchange in London at 10 pounds (Rs.
650) a month to, ‘see to it that my STD and ISD calls are billed to someone
else. ‘You would not dare to speed beyond 55 mph (88km/h) in Washington and
then tell the traffic cop, ‘Jaanta hai main kaun hoon (Do you know who I am?) I
am so and so’s son. Take your two bucks and get lost. ‘You wouldn’t chuck an
empty coconut shell anywhere other than the garbage pill on the beaches in
Australia and New Zealand.
Why don’t YOU spit Paan on the streets of Tokyo? Why don’t
YOU use examination jockeys or buy fake certificates in Boston??? We are still
talking of the same YOU. YOU who can respect and conform to a foreign system in
other countries but cannot in your own. YOU who will throw papers and
cigarettes on the road the moment you touch Indian ground. If you can be an
involved and appreciative citizen, why cannot you be the same here in India?
In America every dog owner has to clean up after his pet has
done the job. Same in Japan .. Will the Indian citizen do that here?’ He’s
right. We go to the polls to choose a government and after that forfeit all
responsibility.
We sit back wanting to be pampered and expect the government
to do everything for us whilst our contribution is totally negative. We expect
the government to clean up but we are not going to stop chucking garbage all
over the place nor are we going to stop to pick a up a stray piece of paper and
throw it in the bin. We expect the railways to provide clean bathrooms but we
are not going to learn the proper use of bathrooms.
We want Indian Airlines and Air India to provide the best of
food and toiletries but we are not going to stop pilfering at the least
opportunity.
This applies even to the staff who is known not to pass on
the service to the public.
When it comes to burning social issues like those related to
women, dowry, girl child! and others, we make loud drawing room protestations
and continue to do the reverse at home. Our excuse? ‘It’s the whole system
which has to change, how will it matter if I alone forego my sons’ rights to a
dowry.’ So who’s going to change the system?
What does a system consist of? Very conveniently for us it
consists of our neighbours, other households, other cities, other communities
and the government. But definitely not me and YOU. When it comes to us actually
making a positive contribution to the system we lock ourselves along with our
families into a safe cocoon and look into the distance at countries far away
and wait for a Mr.Clean to come along & work miracles for us with a
majestic sweep of his hand or we leave the country and run away.
Like lazy cowards hounded by our fears we run to America to
bask in their glory and praise their system. When New York becomes insecure we
run to England. When England experiences unemployment, we take the next flight
out to the Gulf. When the Gulf is war struck, we demand to be rescued and
brought home by the Indian government. Everybody is out to abuse and rape the
country. Nobody thinks of feeding the system. Our conscience is mortgaged to
money.
Dear Indians, The article is highly thought inductive, calls
for a great deal of introspection and pricks one’s conscience too…. I am
echoing J. F. Kennedy’s words to his fellow Americans to relate to Indians…..
‘ASK WHAT WE CAN DO FOR INDIA AND DO WHAT HAS TO BE DONE TO
MAKE INDIA WHAT AMERICA AND OTHER WESTERN COUNTRIES ARE TODAY’
Lets do what Indian needs from us. Forward this letter to
each Indian for a change instead of sending just jokes.
Thank you,
Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam
N.B. The above letter is dated 12/3/2014 hence the values of
$ & £ mentioned in the letter will be different from current.
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