APJ Abdul Kalam was fondly known as the People’s President. He was born and raised in Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu and studied physics and aerospace engineering. Kalam, a scientist who is known as the father of India’s missile defense program, was one of India’s most-loved presidents.
He was a recipient of several prestigious awards, including the Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian honor.
On his birth anniversary, here’s looking at lesser-known facts about Abdul Kalam
- Born into a poor family in Rameswaram as Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam, he sold newspapers to fund his education and later studied physics and aerospace engineering in Tamil Nadu.
- Kalam was interested in Indian classical music and has penned books that have been best sellers- Ignited Minds, Wings of Fire, Indomitable Spirit and India 2020.
- One of the little known facts about former President APJ Abdul Kalam is that he has a medical invention to his name — a coronary stent built with missile composites that dramatically brought down the cost of heart stents from Rs 55,000 to Rs 10,000 in the mid-1990s.
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He was known as the ‘people’s President’ as he set a target of addressing 500,000 students during his five-year term. Even after leaving office in 2007, “Kalam Chacha” (“Uncle Kalam”), would receive hundreds of emails a day from young people inspired by his exhortation to “dream, dream, dream!”. It is said that he replied in person to nearly all of them.
While delivering a lecture at the Indian Institute of Management Shillong, Kalam collapsed and died from an apparent cardiac arrest on 27 July 2015, aged 83.
Legacy of APJ Abdul Kalam lives on making him unforgettable forever
