Bal Anand –
He was the finest product of the Syncretistic Culture of India
I heard of Dr APJ Abdul Kalam sometime in 1981 from my school-time friend Dr CR Jagga who had then joined the Department of Chemistry at the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi.
After listening to Dr Kalam at a conference, Dr Jagga was enthusiastically talking to me about this amazingly simple soul scientist with a saintly serenity and total dedication to his mission of missile technology. He was mesmerised by the indefinable magnetic charm of this gentleness personified magician.
Rare privilege
I had the privilege of a Darshan of this Maharishi of Vigyan from an intimate proximity at the Republic Day Reception that he hosted in honour of Vladimir Vladimirovich, then Prime Minister of Russia visiting India.
I am glad that my letters of credentials as High Commissioner to Kiribati & Samoa while resident in New Zealand had been issued under President Kalam’s signature.
Bal Anand was India’s High Commissioner to New Zealand from September 2003 to August 2004. He was also the Non-Resident High Commissioner to Samoa and Kiribati.
Our Delhi Correspondent Balaji Chandramohan writes:
The scientific czar who put an otherwise reluctant India on the Nuclear Map following the May 1998 Pokhran Nuclear test suffered cardiac arrest while giving a lecture on July 27, 2015 at the Indian Institute of Management in Shillong. He later died at the Bethany Hospital.
Dr Kalam was not in good health in recent months but insisted on fulfilling his commitment of a lecture tour, imparting knowledge of science among students and youth.
Distinguished Son
He was a distinguished Son of India, who excelled in a career spanning several decades as an ordinary official, rose to the post of President of India, and held that post with dignity and honour for five years, overseeing two governments of two political extremes, namely the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress.
Following his retirement in 2007, Dr Kalam returned to his teaching career which included lecture tours across the world. He was a great source of inspiration to the younger generation, encouraging them to adopt a holistic approach to public life.
Amazing career
A saint by heart and a genius by brain he rose through a tough childhood to become one of the greatest sons that India produced in a hundred years.
More than 30 universities and institutions around the word honoured him with doctorates, life memberships and citations.
He was a good Veena player too.
Dr Kalam died a bachelor aged 84. His last rites were performed at his birthplace of Rameswaram in the Southern tip of the country on July 28, 2015, a day after his death.
Dr Abdul Kalam with our friend Prashant Busin at his official residence in Delhi on June 27, 2011. Picture by Indian Newslink.
