Feature: Kalam, from Scientist to Indian President

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, July 19, 2002

Feature: Kalam, from Scientist to Indian President

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Abdul Kalam, who was elected the 12th President of the Indian Republic Thursday, is a cool, calculative man of science, who believes India needs another dreamof becoming great to fire on all cylinders.

71-year-old Kalam, born in a boat-maker's family on the southern tip of the country, Rameshwaram in Tamil Nadu, has devoted his life in the pursuit of making India technologically strong and a missile super power.

Born on October 15, 1931, Kalam is a dreamer and one of the finest products of Indian pluralism. A vegetarian by choice, he leads a simple life as enjoined by Islam, but has assiduously practiced Brahmcharya extolled by Hinduism.

In fact, he embraces most of all that is worth admiring in nature, leaving his drawing board and laboratory table to play Veena, a traditional Indian musical instrument, or compose a poem.

The boy from the Mosque street in Rameshwaram had humbled beginnings studying first in a small town school in the 30s and graduated from St. Joseph college in Trichy.

Going in for aeronautics engineering Doctor' course at the newly established Madras institute of Technology was a giant leap for a thoroughly home-trained scientist. His only stint abroad wasa four-month visit to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in the United States.

He joined the Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) in 1958 and five years later joined the Indian Space Research Organization.

Kalam was inducted by the late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in the early 1980s to steer the country's indigenous missile development program.

Kalam and his team in the DRDO delivered five missiles to the nation in the space of 14 years, including the strategic Agni ballistic missile.

"For India, technology is strength and strength recognizes and respects strength," says Kalam who dreams of helping place India in the forefront of scientific-technological power during the early years of the 21st century.

Since he ceased to be the Principal Scientific Advisor to the prime minister, he has interacted with about 45,000 children across the country to "ignite their minds".

As the country's father of missile, he becomes the third Muslimto occupy the highest post after Zakir Hussain and Fakruddin Ali Ahmed.

Kalam, who will sworn in on July 25, reacted to his victory, saying he was delighted to be elected president and spoke of a "second vision" to transform the country into a poverty free and developed nation in 20 years.

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