Pres Kalam Answers

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Kalam Answers Rather Than Ask

 

Jyotsna Bhatnagar

 

Ahmedabad, Aug 12: This is a Presidential visit with a difference

at Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad. Even as newshounds waited for

their chance to shoot off politically loaded questions, Ahmeda-ad's

school kids merrily fired away their queries at President Dr APJ

Abdul Kalam like seasoned pros. As expected, Kalam shot off missile-

like replies.

 

Dressed in trademark casual blue shirt and grey trousers, the Prez

first paid obeisance to the Mahatma at Hridya Kunj before stepping

into another hall for his Q&A session. A past master at violating

protocol with pleasant results, Kalam kept security personnel on

their toes as he extended his allotted time like a great teacher who

can't be bothered about time and space while debating fundamental

matters with pupils.

 

Lest we forgot, the politicians were in attendance too. Senior state

BJP leaders including caretaker chief minister Narendra Modi sweated

it out on cheap plastic chairs in an overcrowded hall of the Ashram.

Without doubt, they must have dreaded the moment when the master

would pose uncomfortable queries about post-Godhra Gujarat.

 

But Kalam has proved once again that his preaching style is

different:

 

* "Which sublime quality should we include in our life to become

like you?" queried a young boy. "Sweat. S-w-e-a-t," was Kalam's

loaded reply.

 

* "Since becoming the President of the country, how will you

channelise your energy for peace?" asked a young girl.

 

His banter: "Children are the real resource of peace. Through you I

want to communicate the message of peace to the country and to the

world."

 

* Yet another youngster, addressing him in chaste Gujarati, wanted

to know the relevance of a teacher in his life. "All I can say is

that Gujarati is a beautiful language," he laughed.

 

On a more serious note, Kalam said he believed "a good teacher was a

big inspiration" since it was his teacher in fifth standard who had

taught him the science of flight by taking him to a seashore to

watch seagulls fly. The self-confessed disciple of the Father of the

Nation confessed to the youth of riot-battered Gujarat that his

mentors were from their land.

 

While the Mahatma taught him how to make the impossible possible

when he fulfilled his pledge of returning to his beloved Sabarmati

Ashram only after India attained freedom, it was Dr Vikram sarabhai

who taught him how "to convert a mission into a goal."

 

The pragmatist in the President has modified some of the teachings

of the Mahatma to suit present ground realities. When asked the

importance of swadeshi in economic growth of the country, Dr Kalam

candidly admitted that there was nothing wrong in working with other

countries to gain self-reliance in certain areas.

 

All through, Kalam impressed the kids to dream big and work

collectively towards the mission of making India a developed nation.

 

For those wishing to read political meaning in Kalam's visit to riot-

hit Gujarat, there is a mere song and a message: While reciting

his "Song of Youth", the President, in an aside, quipped: "CMs

should give us big aims too."