How far I’ve come because of Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam’s goodness is a dream come true. And if there’s anything we can learn from Dr Kalam, it’s that treating people right will help them live up to their God-given potential.
Strange as it seems, Dr Kalam did more for me than he ever would have known. During difficult times, he made life easy for me.
One morning in 1995, my first proud possession, a Yamaha motorbike, went missing. Not accessorized attractively, I assumed it didn’t attract any attention. After frantically searching the entire vicinity in vain for hours, I reached office around midday, dejected and disappointed, to a warm welcome and a volley of questions from colleagues. Since I'm the first one at office on all other days, my absence was strongly felt and considered unwonted. DRDO workforce was generally a close-knit group under Dr Kalam and we were always concerned about one another's welfare.
Committed as he was to running an office always open to friends, scientists and guests, it was amazing that Dr Kalam invariably found the time for his folks on whom he lavished energy and love. If he caught me looking into my watch, he supplied tonelessly, ''No joy is complete unless you share it with people. Friends are family. They lighten your burden, take away your grief and offer fantastic ideas''. Consequently, a handful worked overtime wholeheartedly, but the last to leave office happily were just the two of us. Working into the nights, without my motorbike to get back home, seemed troublesome. In spite of being consoled, privately, I cursed the unknown thief.
As if Dr Kalam's first thought was to comfort me, he said in a reassuring tone, ''You will find it, I say'' and then went on to listen to the whole story before he got back to work. For the next four months, until my bike was found, he dropped me at my home and it strengthened our relationship. He demanded honesty and forced me to open my heart. Very soon, we got to familiarize ourselves with details about each other's family like the back of our hands. We both knew the car trips helped develop a long-lasting bond between us and Dr Kalam's capacity to surprise me grew stronger. Between one thing and the other, 5km seemed very short to both of us, the benefactor and beneficiary. Alongside him, I discovered a magic rule. That is, with those little choices we have over the given rules, we need not make fences. There is space, time and scope for humanity.
Post Presidency, Dr Kalam's short stint at EMRI as Chairman Emeritus can be called his brief shining moment. He served EMRI with delight and thought about it 20 hours a day because countless people owed their lives to that kind of dedicated service. At EMRI, even the routine turned fascinating. Following the financial collapse, Dr Kalam quit EMRI whereas I continued as the Executive Secretary. A casual chat with one of the EMRI leadership let Dr Kalam in on the fact that many employees, including me, weren't paid for almost 3 months.
Sooner or later, when he came to me and demanded a cheque leaf, I was taken aback because I was the sole person who oversaw and operated his financial transactions. Looking intently at my face he uttered, ''May I have an envelope too, please!''
He breezed out by the door and I followed him to his office. There, I saw him filling out the cheque. One more time, staring at my face dead-on, he said, ''You funny guy, keep this. I thought you told me everything. I was wrong''. In a few minutes I found out that, that cheque for Rs 1 lakh was for me. The more I tried to clarify that I did not need financial help and I wasn't going through a financial crisis, he teased me by repeating every financial terminology I said. Suddenly, he scanned his desk, though there was no real need, his eyes narrowed, picked up a file and assigned me a job before venturing out for his usual walk. Clearly, he didn't want to discuss the cheque anymore.
He thought things through and acted deliberately, quickly. Later that evening, I came to terms with the fact that it was indeed a grand gesture and thankfully I chose to acknowledge it for my good.
Right or wrong, I neither cashed the cheque nor told him anything about it till his last. Overall, Dr Kalam's act reflected his humane side, one of commitment, love and action. Now when I take a look at that token of love, I understand he remained a giver, whenever he could.
His visits to his home in Rameswaram meant a lot to him. Long conversations with his brother revolved around a sense of community responsibilities. In addition to donating large sums of money to the deserving through his brother and regularly following up, Dr Kalam considered uplifting lives as his prime duty. He reiterated often that people must care about one another. He patiently listened to stories his brother told him, of people and neighbours, of graduates who found well paid jobs, of changes, of development, of life before and after sundown, of communities that moved in and out of Rameswaram, of temples, pilgrims and religious harmony. Every visit was a visit to remember because of those regaling stories. Once, on our way back, Dr Kalam asked me if I liked his brother's stories. I didn't let him complete his question and cut in with a ''More than you do, Sir'' and made him laugh out loud.
''You know, time is rushing by,'' he said. ''When we allow elders to tell stories, we literally let them share their feelings, you get me?''
I answered in the affirmative and added, ''Listening patiently is giving them back the humanity, Sir.''
''Excellent'', said Dr Kalam. ''Humanity is kind of snatched away by today''s fast paced world.'' His eyes brightened up and went on to explain its only humanity that sowed in his mind the idea of light-weight calipers (made of space age materials) for the polio affected.
''Simply fabulous, Sheridon,'' he whispered as the flight attendant continued with her instructions. ''Ingenious enough. That day in Belgaum I was on cloud nine when I distributed those calipers. They were perfect, just the way I visualized.''
''On the nose'', I butted in. The airplane was then speeding off the runway. Overpowering the roar of the engine, Dr Kalam said, ''Yes, I'm nosy you see. That's why those calipers were developed from the same composite material used to produce the nose cone of the Agni missile.''
It was classic Dr Kalam, a mixture of childlike excitement, infectious enthusiasm, compassion and stately - a rare combo that made him the most popular Indian. Just as a flu, I caught his enthusiasm, found myself grinning, ''Floor Reaction Orthosis, a colossus.''
''There you go again!'' exclaimed Dr Kalam impatiently.
Dr Kalam is as skilled as a surgeon in locating the heart of a person's problem is what I understood. On seeing the differently abled, his large soulful eyes were filled with pain and worry. More than a dozen times, looking at his glassy moist eyes, I've mumbled, ''Sir, is everything okay?''
His teeth grinding, he had uttered a tentative yes umpteen times. Throughout his life, Dr Kalam modelled himself as a steward of God whose mission is to help Him perfect His creation.
As much as I know, Dr Kalam's heart melted a thousand times for he believed his existence had some larger meaning, something permanent transcended him and his heart went out to the poor and forlorn. Those in pain and trouble caught his eye. Be it a human or bird or animal or an insect.
''Sheridon, as you know better innovations for better lives don't come easy,'' Dr Kalam began. I knew he was going into the Kalam-Raju stent victory. He loved to talk about events we both already knew, particularly accomplishments.
''You know Dr B Soma Raju is no ordinary cardiologist,” he said, in a more cheerful tone. “He is the one with a huge heart.”
“And a distended aorta through which pumps a vast lake of compassion and human kindness”, I quoted Adam Kay.
Relax I reminded myself. Relax!
“You funny guy,” quipped Dr Kalam. “I’m glad you know him very well.”
Similar times, I've thought to myself, ''Oh, I know this already''. Once Dr Kalam began recounting tales, I was gripped by them because I got to learn a new thing every other time.
Dr Kalam’s friendship with Dr B Soma Raju spanned more than three decades. All their discussions were about fixing problems or finding solutions. Together, they sounded like researchers.
''I was in my best self with Dr B Soma Raju'', Dr Kalam said bracingly. ''Veins are more fragile than arteries. Walls of veins are thinner than strands of floss is all that I knew about vascular science when I was hell bent on developing an indigenous, affordable stent by merging defence technology and medical science.”
''You went all out, Sir'' I assured him. The sky was his limit when it's R&D. There was no stopping him.
In the words of Cardiologist Dr B Soma Raju, Dr Kalam was ''very attached'' to the project since 1985 and remained his ''guiding soul'' until and after the Kalam-Raju stent was introduced in the market in 1994. Almost a decade of painstaking research and development delivered the brainchild called K-R stent. Collaboration was Dr Kalam's forte and his victories continued with every single transplant and in the smiles of children in low-weight calipers.
Before delving into Light from Many Lamps by Eichler Watson, he suggested I take a nap. I woke up to an inflight passenger announcement and saw Dr Kalam's face creasing in smiles. ''40 winks?'', he said. ''If every human is devoted to a purpose or a job believing in something noble or useful for the community, our world will heal quicker.”
The more I ponder upon Dr Kalam''s endeavours, the more I acknowledge my debt to humanity. For a bright future of this world, may there be many more leaders, citizens with the courage and conviction of Dr Kalam.
Story of the sick peacock, spotted by Dr Kalam and that of an injured fawn that was adopted by him to be taken care of for 9 months made headlines. His empathy was noticed by the entire staff of Rashtrapati Bhavan who were involved in treating both. Even in the midst of his busy schedule as President, through thick and thin, Dr Kalam was heedful of the little things around him like a wilting plant, a bud, a new bloom, a bee sparkling in the sunlight, a bug landing on a flower, ant nests, a new sapling and the gardener who was up since dawn. Apart from being updated by the vet, Dr Kalam went the extra mile to observe the injured creatures in person. Just like a concerned parent. In a low-spirited tone, he explained to me how he found out that the peacock wasn't doing okay. On the day, Dr Kalam was told that a cancerous lump was found in the bird's neck, he looked unsettled, read up on bird tumours and treatments. Days after he identified the sick bird, I found him awake one night in his study, in deep thoughts.
''Sir, anything else?,'' I asked, surprised.
''Yes, under what ethical code can we possibly justify the sufferings of animals and birds?,'' he asked.
I immediately agreed that sufferings can't be justified and it took some time to help him partly believe that the bird will recover. He readily empathized, gave his all and I saw it.
Dr Kalam deliberated mostly on people whose lives were difficult, sad laced with poverty and cruelty. I guess, he was naturally drawn to such people because of all the lessons he learnt by seeing, hearing and feeling, the most important being that every life has a purpose and deserves dignity, at least a certain amount of it.
(As told to Elsa Lycias Joel)
Sheridon was Kalam's private secretary for over two decades.
