My Life: An Illustrated Biography by A.P.J. Abdul Kalam

Author:A.P.J. Abdul Kalam [Kalam, A.P.J. Abdul]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Rupa/Red Turtle Publications
Published: 2015-10-10T21:00:00+00:00

Chapter Six

It was very early in the morning. Here, in the eastern part of India, dawn broke even earlier, but I was already awake. In the last seven years I had learnt to get by with less and less sleep. Work and making use of every waking hour and minute was all I thought about through the day. Not now, though. Now, in these early minutes of the day when the sun had not appeared fully, I liked to look out of the window and feel the cool, fresh breeze on my face. I liked to hear the birds waking up at the nearby Pulicat Lake and start their chirping and crying and flapping of wings. For them it was going to be a day of looking for food, finding the best grub and caring for their young. For me too, it was going to be a day of endless work. I could not wait to get started.

I began my day with a morning walk. The early morning with its unbroken promise for the day, its stillness not yet disturbed by voices gave me the time and space to gather my thoughts. As I walked, I remembered the long ago days of walking with my father, of coming home to my mother, of Jalaluddin holding my hand and pointing out the stars in the sky. All these people had gone in the last few years. Jalaluddin died suddenly, while still young, leaving my sister Zohra a widow. With him gone, I felt as if I had finally shut the chapter of my childhood days. Soon after that my father too passed away. He was over a hundred years old, but still fit. I visited my old town and said my final goodbye to the man who taught me to pray, to have faith in something larger than myself and the one who showed me that the person who is rich in spirit can never be poor. His death left my mother lonely and sad. The one whose side she had not left for over seventy years was gone. She too followed him soon after. With each passing I remembered what they had taught me, what I had loved about each person and knew that no one really ever dies. If you have been good and loving, you live on in the hearts of those who held you dear.

This hour or two in the morning was really the only time I had to reflect and look back. The rest of my day was taken over in making sure that we built the SLV-3 perfectly and on time. Since I had been made the project director for SLV-3, that was my one and only goal despite all the personal losses. My team was a close knit and united one. Every day I decided the goals and all of us worked towards achieving that. I learnt that patience and calmness can help you deal with all kinds of obstacles. To get the work

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