Family and Nation

Author(s): Mahapragna Acharya, A P J Abdulkalam
Publisher: Harper Publications India

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THE FAMILY AND THE NATION
in-law went close to the cradles to ensure that their babies did not cry and disturb my mother. As soon as the children in the cradles saw their mothers and felt their soft touch, there was a spontaneous gurgling laugh from them. The beautiful sight of the serene look of my mother and the happiness of the grandchildren in the cradles and their happy mothers filled me with great joy. Acharya: You are blessed, Kalam. There is nothing superior in the entire world than to experience the happiness of such a divine family environment of prayer and the innocent smiles of the new-born kids. What was your routine in childhood? Kalam: I used to get up at four in the morning, take my bath and go for my maths class. My mathematics teacher, Swamiar, would not accept students if they had not taken a bath. I would come back at 5:30 and go for namaz with my father and learn the Holy Quran in Arabic school. Acharya: You wrote in Wings of Fire about your childhood enterprise. Tell me about it. Kalam: The Rameswaram Road Railway station was about three kilometres from our house. The MadrasDhanushkodi Mail would pass through the station without stopping as a war-time emergency measure. The newspapers meant for distribution in our locality were thrown from the running train to the platform in bundles. I used to collect the papers and was the first one to distribute them in Rameswaram town. Looking back, I realize how my parents and teachers had talked unobtrusively of the value of dignity of labour. Acharya: I took up monkhood at the age of ten. You made me live my early childhood today. You are not a monk and yet you lived a life of austerity and abstinence. Where did it all start?