Date: 15/11/2022 Shift: 12:30 PM – 2:30 PM Q. No: 97

Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, the Eleventh President of India, was a great scientist, teacher and writer. He had written many books like ‘Ignited Minds,’ ‘India 2020,’ ‘Mission India’ and ‘Wings of Fire’. He was a source of inspiration for the young and old alike. Here is an extract from ‘Wings of Fire’ which depicts his early life in his own words.
My parents, Jainulabdeen and Ashiamma 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 ‘BAHUDUR’ by the British. I normally ate with my mother, sitting on the floor of the kitchen. She would place a banana leaf before me, on which she had ladled rice and aromatic sambhar, a variety of sharp home-made pickles and a dollop of fresh coconut chutney.
The famous Shiva temple, which made Rameswaram so sacred to pilgrims was about a ten- minute walk from our house. Our locality was predominantly Muslim, but there were quite a few 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 meaning 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. Many of them offered bowls of water to my father who would dip his fingers in them and say a prayer. This water was then carried home for invalids. I also remember people visiting our home to offer thanks after being cured. My father always smiled and asked them to thank Allah, the benevolent and merciful.
The high priest of Rameswaram Temple, Pakshi Lakshmana, was a very ‘close friend of my father’. One of the most vivid memories of my childhood is of the two men, each in his traditional attire, discussing spiritual matters.
When I was old enough to ask questions I asked my father about the relevance of prayer. “When you pray” he said, “you transcend your body and become a part of the cosmos which knows no division of wealth, age, caste or creed.”