India's 'Missile Man' APJ Abdul Kalam was laid to rest in a massive public ceremony, at Pei Karumbu burial ground near his hometown Rameshwaram in Tamil Nadu. The former president was buried with state honours; a 21 gun salute. Flown in from New Delhi, his mortal remains were taken from his ancestral house to the local mosque, prior to the funeral.
More than one lakh people from all over the country had gathered to pay their last respects. Mourners kept coming through the night and several even slept on the roads, to participate in his final journey. Shops, businesses and hotels remained shut as the entire state marked respect to the leader all fondly called 'People's President.' Slogans of “Bharat Mata ki Jay” and “Vande Mataram” echoed as all those assembled, choked on the national loss.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered his final salute and later met with his 99 year old elder brother Mohammad Muthu Labha Maraicker. Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, Defence Minister Manohar Parriker and Parliament affairs minister Venkaiha Naidu were amongst the government officials who attended the funeral.
Kalam passed away in Shillong after suffering a massive cardiac arrest while delivering a lecture in the Indian Institute of Management. One of his noteworthy traits is his ability to click with people regardless of their age group. Millions of Indian youths have been inspired by him to dream big, and his speeches and interactive sessions have propelled the young to turn those dreams into reality.
“No other democratic nation has 600 million youth. The ignited mind of the youth is the most powerful resource -- on the earth, above the earth, under the earth -- and we have that,” were his words.
N Bhaskara Rao, founder-chairperson of New Delhi's Centre for Media Studies fondly remembers him, “Kalam never 'talked over' with the youth, he 'talked with' them,” said Rao. “He went down to the level understandable by the person he was speaking to, whether school children or IIM students. That's why young people connected to him and loved him so much. Kalam used to regularly meet school and college students and talk to them about science, technology and life. He often shared his vision on where India should be by 2020. There are several anecdotes of him replying to random letters written to him by children.
President Pranab Mukherjee said there was no other president who was as loved as was Abdul Kalam. “Kalam was always jovial but carried his years lightly. His mind was ever agile. He was humble but had a mighty mind. He was the people's president during his tenure as president and will continue to remain so in the hearts of people after his demise,” Mukherjee said.
“I was defence minister in the UPA-I government when he was the president and supreme commander of the armed forces. He asked me to support the Brahmos missile project. His direct encouragement resulted in the Brahmos being used by all the three services.”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi penned a tribute in honour of APJ Abdul Kalam, excerpts of which are, “BHARAT has lost a Ratna, but the light from this jewel will guide us towards APJ Abdul Kalam's dream-destination: India as a knowledge superpower, in the first rank of nations. Our scientist-President -and one who was genuinely loved and admired across the masses - never measured success by material possessions. For him, the counterpoint to poverty was the wealth of knowledge, in both its scientific and spiritual manifestations. As a hero of our defence programme, he shifted horizons; and as a seer of the spirit, he sought to liberate doctrine from the narrow confines of partisan tension to the transcendental space of harmony.
His memory is best honoured by the creation of new institutions that nurture science and technology, and enable us to find a beneficial equation with the awesome power of nature. Too often, greed makes us predators of our environment. Kalamji saw poetry in a tree, and energy that could be harnessed in water, wind and sun. We should learn to look at our world through his eyes, and with the same missionary zeal.
Human beings can shape their lives through will, persistence, ability and sheer courage. But we have not been given the right to script where we are born, or how and when we die. However, if Kalamji had been offered an option, this is how he would perhaps have chosen to say goodbye: on his feet, and in front of a classroom of his beloved students. As a bachelor, he was childless. But that is wrong. He was a father to every Indian child, teaching, cajoling, urging, exciting, clearing darkness wherever he found it with the radiance of his vision and the passion of his involvement. He saw the future, and showed the way. As I entered the room where his body lay in state, I noticed the painting at the entrance that depicted a few lines from an inspirational book he wrote for children, Ignited Minds. The good that he did will not be interred with his bones, because his children will preserve his memory through their lives and work, and gift it to their children.”
