Dr. APJ Abdul Kalaam's speech in Hyderabad.

[AjayKumar.Kataram]

Dr. APJ Abdul Kalaam's speech in Hyderabad.

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 conquered anyone. We have not grabbed
their land, their culture, their history and tried to 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 with all 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 missile program. It was my second bliss when Agni met its
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 orthopedic 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. He said to me: Please
remove the pain of my patients. In three weeks, we made these Floor
reaction Orthosis 300 gram callipers and took them to the orthopaedic
centre. The children didn't believe their eyes. From dragging around a
three
kg. load on their legs, they could now move around! Their parents had
tears in their eyes. That was my fourth bliss!
Why is the media here so negative? Why are we in India so embarrassed
to recognize our own strengths, our achievements? We are such a great
nation. We have so many amazing success stories but we refuse to
acknowledge them. Why? We are the first in milk production. We are
number one
in Remote sensing satellites. We are the second largest producer of
wheat. We are the second largest producer of rice. Look at Dr.
Sudarshan,
he has transferred the tribal village into a self-sustaining,
self-driving unit. There are millions of such achievements but our
media is only
obsessed in the bad news and failures and disasters. I was in Tel Aviv
once and I was reading the Israeli newspaper. It was the day after a
lot of attacks and bombardments and deaths had taken place. The Hamas
had
struck. But the front page of the newspaper had the picture of a Jewish
gentleman who in five years had transformed his desert land into an
orchid and a granary. It was this inspiring picture that everyone

woke up to. The gory details of killings, bombardments, deaths, were
inside in the newspaper, buried among other news. In India we only read
about death, sickness, terrorism, crime. Why are we so NEGATIVE?
Another
question: Why are we, as a nation so obsessed with foreign things? We
want foreign TVs,we want foreign shirts. We want foreign technology.
Why
this obsession with everything imported. Do we not realize that
self-respect comes with self-reliance? I was in Hyderabad giving this
lecture,
when a 14 year old girl asked me for my autograph. I asked her what her
goal in life is: She replied: I want to live in a developed India. For
her, you and I will have to build this developed India. You must
proclaim. India is not an under-developed nation; it is a highly
developed
nation. Allow me to come back with vengeance. Got 10 minutes for your
country?
YOU say that our government is inefficient.
YOU say that our laws are too old.
YOU say that the municipality does not pick up the garbage.
YOU say that the phones don't work, the railways are a joke, the
airline is the worst in the world, mails never reach their destination.
YOU say that our country has been fed to the dogs and is the absolute
pits.
YOU say, say and say.
What do YOU do about it? Take a person on his way to Singapore. Give
him a name - YOURS. Give him a face - YOURS.
YOU walk out of the airport and you are at your International best. In
Singapore you don't throw cigarette butts on the roads or eat in the
stores.
YOU are as proud of their Underground Links as they are. You pay $5
(approx. Rs.60) to drive through Orchard Road (equivalent of Mahim
Causeway or Pedder Road) between 5 PM and 8 PM YOU comeback to the
parking lot
to punch your parking ticket if you have over stayed in a restaurant or
a shopping mall irrespective of your status identity. In Singapore you
don't say anything, DO YOU?
YOU wouldn't dare to eat in public during Ramadan, in Dubai.
YOU would not dare to go out without your head covered in Jeddah.
YOU would not dare to buy an employee of the telephone exchange in
London at 10 pounds (Rs.650) a month to, "see to it that my STD and ISD
calls are billed to someone else."
YOU would not dare to speed beyond 55 mph (88 kmph) in Washington and
then tell the traffic cop, "Jaanta hai sala main kaun hoon (Do you know
who I am?). I am so and so's son. Take your two bucks and get lost."
YOU wouldn't chuck an empty coconut shell anywhere other than the
garbage pail on the beaches in Australia and New Zealand. Why don't YOU
spit
Paan on the streets of Tokyo? Why don't YOU use examination jockeys or
buy fake certificates in Boston? We are still talking of the same YOU.
YOU who can respect and conform to a foreign system in other countries
but cannot in your own. You who will throw papers and cigarettes on the
road the moment you touch Indian ground. If you can be an involved and
appreciative citizen in an alien country why cannot you be the same
here in India. Once in an interview, the famous Ex-municipal
commissioner
of Bombay Mr. Tinaikar had a point to make. “Rich people's dogs are
walked on the streets to leave their affluent droppings all over the
place," he said. "And then the same people turn around to criticize and
blame the authorities for inefficiency and dirty pavements. What do
they
expect the officers to do? Go down with a broom every time their dog
feels the pressure in his bowels? In America every dog owner has to
clean
up after his pet has done the job. Same in Japan. Will the Indian
citizen do that here?" He's right. We go to the polls to choose a
government
and after that forfeit all responsibility. We sit back wanting to!
be pampered and expect the government to do everything for us whilst
our contribution is totally negative. We expect the government to clean
up but we are not going to stop chucking garbage all over the place nor
are we going to stop to pick a up a stray piece of paper and throw it
in the bin.

We expect the railways to provide clean bathrooms but we are
not going to learn the proper use of bathrooms.

We want Indian Airlines
and Air India to provide the best of food and toiletries but we are not
going to stop pilfering at the least opportunity. This applies even to
the staff who is known not to pass on the service to the public. When
it comes to burning social issues like those related to women, dowry,
girl child and others, we make loud drawing room protestations and
continue to do the reverse at home. Our excuse? "It's the whole system,
which
has to change, how will it matter if I alone forego my sons' rights to
a dowry." So who's going to change the system? What does a

system consist of? Very conveniently for us it consists of our
neighbors,

other households, other cities, other communities and the
government. But definitely not me and YOU. When it comes to us actually
making a
positive contribution to the system we lock ourselves along with our
families into a safe cocoon and look into the distance at countries far
away and wait for a Mr. Clean to come along & work miracles for us with
a majestic sweep of his hand. Or we leave the country and run away.
Like lazy cowards hounded by our fears we run to America to bask in
their
glory and praise their system. When New York becomes insecure we run to
England. When England experiences unemployment, we take the next flight
out to the Gulf. When the Gulf is war struck, we demand to be rescued
and brought home by the Indian government. Everybody is out to abuse
and
rape the country. Nobody thinks of feeding the system our conscience is
mortgaged to money.


Dear Indians, The article is highly thought inductive, calls for a
great deal of introspection and pricks one's conscience too....I am
echoing J. F. Kennedy's words to his fellow Americans to relate to
Indians..... 'ASK WHAT WE CAN DO FOR INDIA AND DO WHAT HAS TO BE DONE
TO MAKE
INDIA WHAT AMERICA AND OTHER WESTERN COUNTRIES ARE TODAY'.

Lets do what India needs from us.

[avadhoot.dharmadhikari]

Very nice post

[kiran2710]

Nice one.........