Dear Dr. Kalam, Requiescat In Peace

Our country has faced a loss of a noble soul, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam. We are currently in mourning. It is really wonderful to know that one person impacted lives of so many.

On the internet, though, we have a pattern of mourning.

We mourn for a few days by sharing videos, posts, updating tweets and statuses. Our timeline is currently filled with all of that. Then we slowly move on in our life. During the death anniversaries we see some more posts and some people getting emotional by remembering the loss. But that stops there. This time we will do something different and something more effective.

Life Lessons by Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam

We will make the demise of Dr. Kalam a foundation for us to imbibe the values imparted by him. Every year on July 27th, we shall keep a check on whether we have actually followed all that he said. This is a personal task. You must do this if you appreciated our former President and the value system he followed.

He was an epitome of how an ideal leader should be. He has inspired us in many ways. He gave us some simple guidelines to abide by. In corporate world we are so involved with our jobs and in love with our careers that we forget how to create work-life-balance. He advised us to leave work on time, otherwise you will be deemed incompetent.

At the same time, he had advised us to work an extra day when he passes away. So don’t give Vinod Tawde, Maharashtra’s education minister, a hard time for not giving 7 days of leave. He is simply doing his job by asking you to do the same. As for Mr. Kalam, he wanted you to be efficient in your job as well as in other realms of your life.

Apart from the above advice, he had given a speech at IIT Hyderabad on how we must constantly focus upon positive news. He gave an example of an Israeli newspaper, when amidst war, had a front page full of news about a farmer and his bountiful harvest. A happy photo on the front page of every newspaper makes a positive impact on otherwise heavily stressed citizens. So when you read the news daily, focus on positive aspects of our country as you do about many other negatives. We are sure that Dr. Kalam would have loved that.

Last but not the least, do mourn and praise the greatest soul ever lived, but, also treat his departure with dignity and take lessons for the future. Don’t bring in religious and political affiliations. Instead see what you can learn from his work and speeches and start inculcating them into your life.

What are your favourite lessons from Dr. Kalam? Share here in comments. We are waiting to hear you out!

22 Replies to “Dear Dr. Kalam, Requiescat In Peace”

  1. Simple & hardworking with a heart full of love. That’s how I’ll remember Dr. Kalam Sir. Legends stay on through their words & writings & he will continue inspiring us always. RIP Sir.

  2. His zeal for education and his self motivation is something, I will want to implement in my life. And also his humble nature was a beautiful asset to his personality.

  3. A very nice verse from his book Wings of Fire read that in India most of the corporate houses have a glaring gap between the lower and upper management because of the latter’s ego. With so much emotional pressure and disturbance in work-life balance, you cannot expect performance and output from lower management. If the gap is removed, India will prosper…

    These words inspire me. All humans deserve an equal treatment. So get rid of your ego and behave like a human. Why do people think it is demeaning to trash their food trays after meals in places like McDonalds?

    A man full of compassion, Dr Kalam wanted his security personnel to sit when he saw him standing throughout the journey from Airport to IIM. He was concerned that the man would get tired. On arrival to the IIM institute, Dr Kalam send for the security personnel and asked him “Are you tired. Do you want to eat something? I am sorry, you had to stand because of me”…Imagine, a personality like him was so humble, so thoughtful…why cant we be so? If we behave like him, this planet will surely be a better place to live in.

    The world will miss the legend. My tributes to Dr. Kalam.

  4. India has lost its rarest gem.Mr lalam was a noble soul one whose every word and action was for his country and its citizens.His contribution in education science ,technology and philosophy will stand with us.Saluted to great soul .may he rest in peace.His words will stay forever.

  5. “Love your job but don’t love your company, because you may not know when your company stops loving you.” This quote of Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam inspire me to grow interest and passion in my work.

  6. I had been fortunate enough and feel honored to say that I had attended one such conference as IIM Shillong’s, albeit at the Teen Murti Bhavan in October 2014.

    While I had found those photographs in my portable hard drive just last week and planned to chronicle the same sometime around now, I had not, in my wildest dreams imagined that the reason to pen the post would pursue a different course altogether. More priceless was an audio recording in Sir’s voice, which I came across!

    An Evening With The Missile Man Of India

    http://stiryoursouls.blogspot.in/2015/07/an-evening-with-missile-man-of-india.html

  7. I salute Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, the missile man of our nation. He is my role model.

  8. I was actually fond of DR APJ when I got to know that he was a poor kid of Kanyakumari and he selled his books to study well. the other reason was that he always transformed his dreams to reality. He contributed his science, technology, to India.
    a great salute to him

  9. what a great man!!!! I love all his quotes..the one quote which i most inspired is “SUCCESS IS NOTHING BUT WHEN YOUR SIGNATURE CHANGES INTO AUTOGRAPH”

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