FW: : Dr Abul Kalam's Speech

[Guest guest]

DEAR FRIENDS,

.

 

 

> > > This is worth reading. I hope everyone knows Abdul Kalaam (The man

 

> > > behind the AGNI missile .

SHNAKARAM SHIVA SHANKARAM

[Venkatraman]

 

 

 

 

> > > Dr. Abdul Kalaam's Speech I have three visions for India. In 3000 years of

 

> > > our history people from all over the world have come and

 

> > > > invaded us, captured our lands, conquered our minds. >From Alexander

 

> > > onwards. The Greeks, the Turks, the Moguls, the Portuguese, the British,

 

> > > the French, the Dutch, all of them came and looted us, took over what was

 

> > > ours. Yet we have not done this to any other nation. We have not conquered

 

> > > anyone. We have not grabbed their land, their culture, and their history

 

> > > and tried to enforce our way of life on them. Why?

 

> > >

 

> > > Because we respect the freedom of others.

 

> > >

 

> > > That is why my first vision is that of FREEDOM. I believe that India got

 

> > > its first vision of this in 1857, when we started the war of independence.

 

> > > It is this freedom that we must protect and nurture and build on. If we

 

> > > are not free, no one will respect us.

 

> > >

 

> > > My second vision for India is DEVELOPMENT. For fifty years we have been a

 

> > > developing nation. It is time we see ourselves as a developed nation. We

 

> > > are among top 5 nations of the world in terms of GDP. We have 10 percent

 

> > > growth rate in most areas. Our poverty levels are falling. Our

 

> > > achievements are being globally recognized today. Yet we lack the

 

> > > self-confidence to see ourselves as a developed nation, self-reliant and

 

> > > self-assured. Isn't this incorrect?

 

> > >

 

> > > I have a THIRD vision. India must stand up to the world. Because I believe

 

> > > that unless India stands up to the world, no one will respect us. Only

 

> > > strength respects strength. We must be strong not only as a military power

 

> > > but also as an economic power. Both must go hand-in-hand. My good fortune

 

> > > was to have worked with three great minds. Dr.Vikram Sarabhai of the Dept.

 

> > > of space, Professor Satish Dhawan, who succeeded him and Dr. Brahm

 

> > > Prakash, father of nuclear material. I was lucky to have worked with all

 

> > > three of them closely and consider this the great opportunity of my life.

 

> > > I see four milestones in my career:

 

> > >

 

> > > ONE: Twenty years I spent in ISRO. I was given the opportunity to be the

 

> > > project director for India's first satellite launch vehicle, SLV3. The one

 

> > > that launched Rohini. These years played a very important role in my life

 

> > > of Scientist.

 

> > >

 

> > > TWO: After my ISRO years, I joined DRDO and got a chance to be the part of

 

> > > India's guided missile program. It was my second bliss when Agni met its

 

> > > mission requirements in 1994.

 

> > >

 

> > > THREE: The Dept. of Atomic Energy and DRDO had this tremendous partnership

 

> > > in the recent nuclear tests, on May 11 and 13. This was the third bliss.

 

> > > The joy of participating with my team in these nuclear tests and proving

 

> > > to the world that India can make it, that we are no longer a developing

 

> > > nation but one of them. It made me feel very proud as an Indian. The fact

 

> > > that we have now developed for Agni a re-entry structure, for which we

 

> > > have developed this new material. A Very light material called

 

> > > carbon-carbon.

 

> > >

 

> > > FOUR: One day an orthopaedic surgeon from Nizam Institute of Medical

 

> > > Sciences visited my laboratory. He lifted the material and found it so

 

> > > light that he took me to his hospital and showed me his patients. There

 

> > > were these little girls and boys with heavy metallic calipers weighing

 

> > > over three Kg. each, dragging their feet around. He said to me: Please

 

> > > remove the pain of my patients. In three weeks, we made these Floor

 

> > > reaction Orthosis 300 gram callipers and took them to the orthopaedic

 

> > > centre. The children didn't believe their eyes. From dragging around a

 

> > > three kg. load on their legs, they could now move around! Their parents

 

> > > had tears in their eyes. That was my fourth bliss!

 

> > >

 

> > > 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 land

 

> > > 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 TVs. 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 years 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 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, and 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 comeback 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

 

> > > kmph) in Washington and then tell the traffic cop, "Jaanta hai sala 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. You can be an involved and

 

> > > appreciative citizen in an alien country why cannot you be the same here

 

> > > in India. Once in an interview, the famous Ex-municipal commissioner of

 

> > > Bombay Mr.Tinaikar had a point to make. "Rich people's dogs are walked on

 

> > > the streets to leave their affluent droppings all over the place," he

 

> > > said. "And then the same people turn around to criticize and blame the

 

> > > authorities for inefficiency and dirty pavements. What do they expect the

 

> > > officers to do? Go down with a broom every time their dog feels the

 

> > > pressure in his bowels? 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 or 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"

 

> > >

 

> > > End of Speech

 

> > >

 

> > > Lets do what India needs from us. Forward this mail to each Indian for a

 

> > > change instead of sending Jokes or junk mails.

 

> > >

 

> > > Thank you.

 

 

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