Contents: Preface. 1. Life and achievements. 2. Three visions for India. 3. Abdul Kalam : 200 per cent Indian. 4. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, India’s leading defence scientist on Phokhran II : vision 2020. 5. Agni ‘could be deployed within three month’. 6. Dreams float on an impatient wind… 7. India should market itself well. 8. Dr. Abdul Kalam interview. 9. India’s missile development with foreign assistance. 10. Dr. Kalam suggests alternative systems for treating CAD. 11. In the service of the country. 12. Vision for a proud India. 13. Missile man rises from humble base. 14. Abdul Kalam with Amrita institute of computer technology. 15. Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam—biography. 16. Salaam Kalam. 17. India’s nuclear bomb. 18. Policies programmes and initiatives. 19. Developed nation : the vision. 20. Current events. Index.
"Born on 15 October 1931 at Dhanushkodi in the Rameswaram district of Tamil Nadu, Abdul Kalam’s father had to rent boats out to fishermen to pay this genius’ school fees. He received secondary education at the Schwartz School, a missionary institute in Ramanathapuram, and later joined the St. Joseph’s College at Tiruchirapalli, where he graduated with a Bachelor in Science. Abdul Kalam went on to study Aeronautical engineering at the Madras Institute of Technology.
"Even though a devout Muslim, his favourite pastimes include reading Hindu scriptures like the Bhagvad Gita, plucking the veena and writing poetry in Tamil, his first language. Unlike other great Indian Scientists, he was neither educated abroad, nor was his family financially very strong to support his academic pursuits. Branded as "200 percent Indian" by his colleagues and acquaintances, ‘India’s Missile Man’, Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam has done the country proud on many fronts.
"Do things yourself. Do not indulge in short-cuts by importing equipment", thundered the great scientist after the famed Pokhran-2 nuclear blasts in 1998. A strong advocate of this philosophy, he distributed...