Hi All
A real good speech by Dr APJ Abdul Kamal. You should read till end.
Mr. APJ Abdul Kalaam’s speech in Hyderabad.
A must read for every Indian.
Quote: I have three visions for India.In 3000 years of our history people
from all over the world have come and invaded us, captured our lands,
conquered our minds. From Alexander onwards. The Greeks, the Turks,the
Moguls, the Portuguese, the British, the French, the Dutch, all of them
came and looted us, took over what was ours.
Yet we have not done this to any other nation. We have not conqueredanyone.
We have not grabbed their land, their culture, their history and triedto
enforce our way of life on them. Why? Because we respect the freedom
of
others. That is why my first vision is that of FREEDOM.
I believe that India got its first vision of this in 1857, when we started
the war of independence. It is this freedom that we must protect and
nurture and build on. If we are not free, no one will respect us.
My second vision for India is DEVELOPMENT. For fifty years we have been
a
developing nation. It is time we see ourselves as a developed nation.We
are among top 5 nations of the world in terms of GDP. We have 10 percent
growth rate in most areas. Our poverty levels are falling. Our
achievements are being globally recognized today. Yet we lack the
self-confidence to see ourselves as a developed nation, self- reliant
and
self-assured. Isn’t this incorrect?
I have a THIRD vision.
India must stand up to the world. Because I believe that unless India
stands up to the world, no one will respect us. Only strength respects
strength. We must be strong not only as a military power but also as
an
economic power. Both must go hand-in-hand. My good fortune
was to have worked with three great minds. Dr. Vikram Sarabhai of the
Dept. of space, Professor Satish Dhawan, who succeeded him and Dr. Brahm
Prakash, father of nuclear material. I was lucky to have worked withall
three of them closely and consider this the
great opportunity of my life.
I see four milestones in my career:
ONE: Twenty years I spent in ISRO. I was given the opportunity to be
the
project director for India’s first satellite launch vehicle, SLV3. The
one
that launched Rohini. These years played a very important role in my
life
of Scientist.
TWO: After my ISRO years, I joined DRDO and got a chance to be the part
of
India’s guided missile program. It was my second bliss when Agni metits
mission requirements in 1994.
THREE: The Dept. of Atomic Energy and DRDO had this tremendous partnership
in the recent nuclear tests, on May 11 and 13. This was the third bliss.
The joy of participating with my team in these nuclear tests and proving
to the world that India can make it, that we
are no longer a developing nation but one of them. It made me feel very
proud as an Indian. The fact that we have now developed for Agni a
re-entry structure,for which we have developed this new material. A
Very
light material called carbon-carbon.
FOUR: One day an orthopaedic surgeon from Nizam Institute of Medical
Sciences visited my laboratory. He lifted the material and found it
so
light that he took me to his hospital and showed me his patients. There
were these little girls and boys with heavy metallic
callipers weighing over three Kg.each, dragging their feet around. Hesaid