The Man who Inspired the Youth

    APJ Abdul Kalam: My Life By Abdul Kalam Rupa Publications. 120 pp. $8.99 Reviewed by Kartik Vijayapuri

    More stories from Kartik Vijayapuri

    His personality shines brighter than his achievements. He was utterly selfless, doing everything for the sake of his country and others around him. He was also a dreamer, who worked hard to make his dreams come true.

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    His personality shines brighter than his achievements. He was utterly selfless, doing everything for the sake of his country and others around him. He was also a dreamer, who worked hard to make his dreams come true.

    How does one become a good person? Although the question seems quite loaded, the answer is very simple: have a dream and keep a positive attitude. Of course, to be a good person, one needs to treat people kindly, carry out goals, be selfless, and work hard. However, as long as an individual has a dream and a positive attitude, everything else falls into place. Such is the case with Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam.

    His story is a classic rags to riches story, but his richness doesn’t come from money. His richness comes in the form of a passion to live every day and make a change. His richness is the ability to inspire. His richness is his honor and dignity.

    APJ Abdul Kalam was born to a poor family in Rameswaram, India. Using his in-born talent and years of hard work, he became a rocket scientist, helping launch India’s first satellite launch vehicle. Further in his life, he became the “missile man” of India, heading the team that produced India’s first nuclear tests. In the third chapter of his life, he became one of the most beloved presidents of India, creating IndiaVision 2020. This was a plan to increase technology by 2020 to provide better lives for Indians. In his life, he also gained the highest civilian honor that one can receive in India, and was widely recognized as a brilliant man. Lastly, the final stage of his life was finding peace in teaching individuals the lessons he learned over his career.

    While reading the autobiography, I realized that his personality shone brighter than his achievements. He was utterly selfless, doing everything for the sake of his country and others around him. He was also a dreamer, who worked hard to make his dreams come true.

    I was awestruck by the simplicity of his writing as I read his autobiography. Having read various autobiographies over a period of 7 years, I have noticed similar patterns that they all follow in terms of structure and style of recollection. However, this autobiography was vastly different.

    His word choices were so straightforward, yet so powerful. The autobiography wasn’t just a recollection of his life events; it was derived lessons one can apply into his/her own life.

    Throughout his autobiography, Kalam consistently repeated that the youth were the future. His goal for the autobiography was to inspire the youth so they could make a change in their world like he did.

    The autobiography took place in Rameswaram, where he was born. It began simply, with a curious Abdul Kalam going with his father to his father’s work. He constantly asked questions on the way such as “‘Appa[Dad], why does the sky change in colour so many times from morning to night? Do you think it likes to change clothes like us?’”(Kalam 9). Soon enough, his childish curiosity turned into dreaming, with his main dream being to fly in the sky, studying the stars. After he graduated school and then college, he was given a chance to work in INCOSPAR, an Indian space research organization. This opportunity was his first step to fulfilling his dream. As the autobiography continued, Kalam recounted various events that taught him valuable life lessons.

    One such event was the failure of his rocket launch. He was leading a team to create a satellite launch vehicle, and after eight years of hard work, the launch date for it arrived. However, there was an error in the second stage of the rocket, and it came crashing down in the Bay of Bengal.

    After another year of hard work, the launch was finally a success. About the event, Kalam wrote, “And the second is about the role of a leader in managing failure. A leader should give the credit of the success to the team members. But when failure comes, leaders should absorb the failures and protect the team members”(Kalam 57).

    At the end of the autobiography, Kalam concluded with an oath for the youth. There were nine bullets, and each was a promise. The first stated “I will have a goal and work hard to achieve that goal” and the last stated, “my national flag flies in my heart, and I will bring glory to my nation”(Kalam 120).

    As I continued reading, I constantly felt myself reading from different perspectives. By the end of the autobiography, I realized that each perspective I saw it through represented the audience that the autobiography is for.

    For the average adult, this autobiography is motivation to reignite their dreams. For children, this is a set of lessons that can aid them significantly in life.

    For Indians, the autobiography builds a sense of nationalism. For Americans, this provides a glimpse into the significantly different lifestyle of other nations. For example, the difference in resources between India and America is evident when Kalam states, “We used cycles to go around everywhere and even carry rocket parts on them!”(Kalam 45).

    However, for avid readers, this autobiography is a representation of how flashy vocab and varied stylistic elements are not always needed to be a truly enjoyable read. The level of writing in this book is not at a college level, or even a high school level, but the emotion that seeps through each page makes up for it.

    Reading the autobiography, I could sense a level of childish playfulness. Even though he was India’s foremost rocket scientist and president, there was still the soul of a young and curious child within him. This playfulness provided a beautiful perspective that made the autobiography so much stronger.

    Essentially, this autobiography differs greatly from autobiographies written by other prominent figures. The autobiography doesn’t aim to highlight his achievements, nor does it try to portray him in a good light. It is merely a handpicked set of his life’s achievements, each of them serving as a lesson to the youth of the world.

    For anyone looking to approach life from a new perspective, this autobiography is perfect. Short and straightforward, the book is a wonderful look into the mind of one of the most prominent scientists of India. Perhaps by reading the autobiography and taking the lessons from it, we can all be just like him one day.