By IANS,
New Delhi : “The Kalam Effect” recounting some lesser known aspects of the man hailed as “people’s president” was released Thursday by P.M. Nair, secretary to former president A.P.J. Abdul Kalam during his days in the Rashtrapati Bhawan.
Nair has penned his experiences when he watched the “missile man”-turned-president from close quarters as his secretary during Kalam’s five year tenure as president of India between 2003-07.
“In this book I have re-lived those five years. My 40 years and 10 days of service in the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) were excellent but the icing on the cake came in the last five years,” Nair said.
Kalam was presented a copy of the book at his residence April 21.
Describing Kalam as one of the noblest of human beings, Nair said: “He (Kalam) showed the highest sense of rectitude in office.” The author spoke about the occasion when 52 members of Kalam’s family arrived at Rashtrapati Bhawan and the former president paid for the rent of each of the rooms they occupied – and the last cup of tea they had.
“He spent Rs.352,000 from his own pocket,” Nair said.
Present on the podium for the book release here were M.N. Venkatchellaiah, former chief justice of India, and Bimal Jalan, former governor of the Reserve Bank of India.