by Stephen Gill
Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, 11th president of India, collapsed while delivering a speech at a seminar of Indian Institute of Management in Shillong, India. He died of cardiac arrest at Bethany Hospital in the capital of Meghalaya province on July 27, 2015 in the evening.
He was born in a poor Muslim family of a boatman in a rural area of Tamilnadu, South India. It was his education that made him the 11th president of India. He rose to this position not because of his politics but because of his achievements as a missile scientist. He wrote inspirational poems for children, and led a simple life.
It is clear that he was a child of the multicultural nature of Indian heritage. Dr. Kalam will be remembered for his life of a harmonious marriage between art and knowledge. His ceaseless struggle in the narrow alleys of the bumpy orbits of bigotries to raise a stage for the goddess of peace to dance has set an example.
This is an uncommon phenomenon at least in India, where he cultivated a crop of the palpitation of human groans and a glory that is the essence of more than five thousand years old culture. He was respected by the majority as well as by the minority groups. At this time, when India needs a citizen of uncritical devotion, the legacy of Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam shall remain alive for a long long time. He is rightly known as “people’s president.”
Stephen Gill is a multiple award winning writer based in Canada.
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