By IANS
New Delhi : The setting was the International Space University at Strasbourg, the seat of the European Parliament. The audience was an international class of students majoring in space science. And A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, who lays down office Wednesday as the 11th president of India, expatiated on the subject close to his heart – India's growth into a developed nation by 2020.
There was rapt silence as students from 93 countries listened to the world's first aero scientist to become head of state expound on India's "important contributions" to the future of space exploration with missions to the Moon and Mars.
The students listened in admiration as the mop-haired Indian leader, who was clearly no ordinary president, told them that India was set to make giant strides in the coming years as it crosses the threshold of an information society and moves to become a knowledge society.
Back home, that awe is underpinned by affection for a man who is clearly so different from other heads of state, and somehow approachable to all.
As Kalam walks into the sunset after becoming in the course of his five years one of the most recognised and popular national personalities across this vast nation, he is sure to occupy a unique place in the gallery of Indian presidents.
He will go down not only as the first non-political figure to occupy the highest office but the first technocrat president whose 'Vision 2020' has now become a mantra for the fast developing country joining the front rank of nations by the end of the next decade.
His favourite theme has been "dream, dream and dream", something with which he exhorts young people to think big and achieve greatness for themselves and the country.
Stories about his frugal food habits, how he paid his own food bills in the Rashtrapati Bhavan and his love for children – he is estimated to have met one million children in the last five years – have been doing the rounds for the last five years, adding to the image of the president as a man of the Indian people.
And even on his last day, amid farewell calls and all the ceremony that go with it, he found time to meet students from Delhi University's Hindu College, no doubt exhorting them to dream, dream.
Being a technocrat, he was never away from either his personal computer or a laptop, replying personally to mails which he received in hundreds daily.
Often referred to as missile man for his significant contribution to developing India's aerospace programme, the bachelor was often asked by children how a technocrat like him enjoyed the job of a president that has usually been the preserve of politicians.
A student from a Delhi school once asked him, "A scientist and then converted to president. Do you think you can bring a new era in a country like India? If yes, then how?"
Replied Kalam: "I am working for a developed India and smiles on the faces of a billion people."
One of the ideas envisaged in his Vision 2020 was what he calls PURA, an acronym for Providing Urban Facilities in Rural Areas, a manifestation of his belief that India could be transformed if it launches a target-oriented mission for empowering the vast rural population and giving them benefits that are available in cities and towns.
Born on Oct 15, 1931, at Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu, Dr. Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam specialised in aeronautical engineering from Madras Institute of Technology.
He made a significant contribution as project director of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to develop India's first indigenous satellite launch vehicle (SLV-III).
Kalam was responsible for the evolution of the launch vehicle programme, particularly the PSLV configuration that laid the foundation for India joining an exclusive club with the ability to do commercial launches.
After working for two decades in ISRO, Kalam took up the responsibility of developing India's indigenous guided missiles at the government's Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
Later, as scientific adviser to the defence minister, he led the weaponisation of strategic missile systems and played a key role in the underground nuclear test by India in the desert of Rajasthan in May 1998 that made the country a nuclear weapon state.
Kalam's varied interests and his scientific temperament have left their imprint on various aspects of the government's functioning and in imbibing a spirit of enterprise in children, a mission that he hopes to continue working on after retirement – when he'll be spending time at Anna University in Chennai, where he had taught earlier after retiring from the government in November 2001.
Life has come full circle for the man who leaves Rashtrapati Bhavan with only two suitcases in hand – as he promised visitors just a few days ago. Back to teaching, writing, reading and interacting with students; the five years as president a mere interregnum.