A P J Abdul Kalam
Avul pakir jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam (1931-2015) was one of the pioneers of aerospace engineering in India . For a major part of his life he worked as a scientist in Indian space progrmme . Some of his famous works are lndia 2020, lgnited Minds, Wings of fire. He was the president of india from 2002 to 2007.
strong roots is an extract from Dr. Kalam ‘s autobiography Wings of Fire. In this extract, he talks about his childhood in his hometown. The piece presents a delightful sketch of the author ‘s early life and development of his spiritual growth.
I was born into a middle -class Tamil family in the island town of Rameswaram in the erstwhile Madras state. MY father , Jainulabdeen, had neither much formal education nor much wealth ; , despite these disadvantages , he possessed great innate wisdom and a true generosity of spirit. He had an ideal helpmate in my mother , ASHIAMMA. I do not recall the exact number of people she fed every day, but I am quite certain that far more outsiders ate with us than all the members of our own family put together.
My parents were widely regarded as an ideal couple. My mother,s lineage was the more distinguished, one of her forebears having been bestowed the title of ‘British.
I was one of many children _a short boy with rather undistinguished looks, born to tall and handsome some parents. We lived in our ancestral house, which was built in the middle of the 19th century. It was fairly large pucca house, made of limestone and brick, on the Mosque Street in Rameswaram.
My austere father used to avoid all inessential comeforts and luxuries. However, all necessities were provided for, in terms of food, medicine or clothing. In fact, I would say mine was a very secure childhood, materially and emotionally.
I normally atr with my mother, sitting on the floor of the kitchen. She would place a banana leaf me, on which she then ladled rice and aromatic sambar, a variety of sharp, home – made pickle and a dollop of fresh coconut chutney.
The Shiva temple, which made Rameswaram so famous to pilgrims, was about a ten-minute walk from our house. Our locality was predominantly Muslim, but there were quite a lot of Hindu families too, living amicably with their Muslim neighbours. There was a very old mosque in our locality where my father would take me for evening prayers. I had not the faintest idea of the Arabic prayers chanted, but I was totally convinced that they reached god. When my father came out of the Mosque after the prayers, people of different religions would be sitting outside, waiting for him fingertips in them and say a prayer.This water was then carried home for invalid. I also remember people visiting our home to offer thanks after being cured. Father always smiled and asked them to thank Allah, the merciful.
The high priest of Rameswaram temple,pakshi Lakshmana Sastry,was avery lose friend of my father,s.one of the most vivid memories of my early childhood is of the two men, each in traditional attire,discussing spiritual matters. When I was old enough to ask questions, I asked my father about the relevance of prayer. My father told me there was nothing mysterious about prayer. Rather, prayer made possible a communion of the spirit between people.”when you pray”, he said “, you transcend your, body and become a part of the cosmos, which know no division of wealth,age caste,or creed.”