A.P.J.ABDUL KALAM speech must read by an indian

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A.P.J.ABDUL KALAM speech must read by an indian

 

Sunday, February 14, 2010, 11:27 AM

 

The President of India DR. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam 's Speech in Hyderabad .

 

(Editor's note: This speech is a few years old)

 

Why is the media here so negative?

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 orchard 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.

 

Do you have 10 minutes? Allow me to come back with a vengeance.

Got 10 minutes for your country? If yes, then read; otherwise, choice is yours.

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 at 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 Road (equivalent of Mahim Causeway or

Pedder Road) between 5 PM and 8 PM. YOU come back to the parking lot to punch

your parking ticket if you have over stayed in a restaurant or a shopping mall

irrespective of your status identity In Singapore you don't say anything, DO

YOU? YOU wouldn'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 (88 km/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 pail 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 in an

alien country, 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'