TRIBUTE TO APJ KALAM SIR ON HIS DEATH ANNIVERSARY 27TH JULY
Mr. PM Nair IAS (Secretary to the President of India) on Late DR. APJ Abdul Kalam*
WE SHALL NOT SEE ANOTHER APJ ABDUL KALAM LIKE OUR LATE PRESIDENT :
DD Podhigai telecast an interview
with Mr P M Nair retired IAS officer who was the secretary to Dr Kalam Sir when
he was the President. I summarise the points he spoke in voice choked with
emotion. Mr Nair authored a book titled *"Kalam Effect"*
1. Dr Kalam used to receive costly
gifts whenever he went abroad as it is customary for many nations to give gifts
to the visiting Head of state. Refusing the gift would become an insult to the
nation and an embarrassment for India. So, he received them and on his return,
Dr Kalam asked the gifts to be photographed and then catalogued and handed over
to the archives. Afterwards, he never even looked at them. He did not take even
a pencil from the gifts received when he left Rashtrapathi Bhavan.
2. In 2002, the year Dr Kalam took
over, the Ramadan month came in July-August. it was a regular practice for the
President to host an iftar party. Dr Kalam asked Mr Nair why he should host a
party to people who are already well fed and asked him to find out how much would
be the cost. Mr Nair told it costs around Rs. 22 lakhs. Dr Kalam asked him to
donate that amount to a few selected orphanages in the form of food, dresses
and blankets. The selection of orphanages was left to a team in Rashtrapathi
Bhavan and Dr Kalam had no role in it. After the selection was made, Dr Kalam
asked Mr Nair to come inside his room and gave him a cheque for Rs 1 lakh. He
said that he is giving some amount from his personal savings and this should
not be informed to anyone. Mr Nair was so shocked that he said "sir, I
will go outside and tell everyone . People should know that here is a man who
not only donated what he should have spent but he is giving his own money
also". Dr Kalam though he was a devout Muslim did not have Iftar parties in
the years in which he was the President.
3. Dr Kalam did not like "yes
sir" type of people. Once when the Chief Justice of India had come and on
some point Dr Kalam expressed his view and asked Mr Nair, "Do you
agree?" Mr Nair said "No sir, i do not agree with you".
The Chief Justice was
shocked and could not believe his ears. It was impossible for a civil servant
to disagree with the president and that too so openly. Mr Nair told him that
the President would question him afterwards why he disagreed and if the reason
was logical 99% he would change his mind.
4. Dr Kalam invited 50 of his
relatives to come to Delhi and they all stayed in Rashtrapathi Bhavan. He
organised a bus for them to go around the city which was paid for by him. No
official car was used. All their stay and food was calculated as per the
instructions of Dr Kalam and the bill came to Rs 2 lakhs which he paid. In the
history of this country no one has done it.
Now, wait for the
climax, Dr Kalam's elder brother stayed with him in his room for the entire one
week as Dr Kalam wanted his brother to stay with him. When they left, Dr Kalam
wanted to pay rent for that room also. Imagine a President of country paying
rent for the room in which he is staying. This was any way not agreed by the
staff who thought the honesty was getting too much to handle !!!.
5. When Kalam sir was to leave
Rashtrapathi Bhavan at the end of the tenure, every staff member went and met
him and paid their respects. Mr Nair went to him alone as his wife had
fractured her leg and was bed ridden. Dr Kalam asked why his wife did not come.
He replied that she was in bed due to an accident. next day, Mr.Nair saw lot of
police men around his house and asked what had happened. They said that the
President of India was coming to visit him in his house. He came and met his
wife and chatted for some time. Mr Nair says that no president of any country
would visit a civil servant's house and that too on such a simple pretext.
I thought I should
give the details as many of you may not have seen the telecast and so it may be
useful.
The younger brother of AJP Abdul
Kalam runs an Umbrella repairing shop. When Mr. Nair met him during Kalam
Funeral, he touched his feet, in token of respect for both Mr. Nair and
Brother.
Such information should be widely shared on social media as Main stream media will not show this because it doesn't carries the so called TRP values.
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