DR. APJ Abdul Kalaam's speech in Hyderabad.
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, theirculture, their history and tried to enforce our way of life on them.Why? Because we respect the freedom of others. That is why my firstvision 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 thisfreedom that we must protect and nurture and build on. If we are notfree, 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 10percent growth rate in most areas. Our poverty levels are falling. Ourachievements are being globally recognized today. Yet we lack theself-confidence to see ourselves as a developed nation, self- reliantand 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 respectsstrength. We must be strong not only as a military power but also as aneconomic power. Both must go hand-in-hand. My good fortune was to have worked with three great minds. Dr. Vikram Sarabhai of the Dept. ofspace,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: 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. 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 met its mission requirements in 1994.
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.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 calipers 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 calipers and took them to the orthopedic center. 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 recognizeour own strengths, our achievements? We are such a great nation.We have so many amazing success stories but we refuse to acknowledgethem. 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 wasthe day after a lot of attacks and bombardments and deaths had takenplace. The Hamas had struck. But the front page of the newspaper had thepicture of a Jewish gentleman who in five years had transformed hisdesert land into an orchid and a granary. It was this inspiring picturethat everyone woke up to. The gory details of killings, bombardments, deaths, were inside in the newspaper, buried among other news. In Indiawe only read about death, sickness, terrorism, crime. Why are we soNEGATIVE?Another question : Why are we, as a nation so obsessed with foreign things? We want foreign TVs, we want foreign shirts. We want foreigntechnology.Why this obsession with everything imported. Do we notrealize that self-respect comes with self-reliance? I was in Hyderabadgiving 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 adeveloped India. For her, you and I will have to build this developedIndia. You must proclaim. India is not an under-developed nation; it is a highly developed nation.Do you have 10 minutes? Allow me to come back with a vengeance. Got 10minutes for your country? If yes, then read; otherwise, choice is yours.YOU say that our government is inefficient.YOU say that our laws are tooold.YOU say that the municipality does not pick up the garbage.YOU saythat the phones don' t work, the railways are a joke, the airline is theworst in the world, mails never reach their destination. YOU say that our country has been fed to the dogs and is the absolutepits.YOU say, say and say. What do YOU do about it?Take a person on his way to Singapore..... Give him a name - YOURS. Givehim 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 theroads or eat in the stores. YOU are as proud of their Underground linksas they are. You pay $5 (approx. Rs.60) to drive through Orchard Road (equivalent of Mahim Causeway or Pedder Road) between5 PM and 8 PM. YOU comeback to the parking lot to punch your parkingticket if you have over stayed in a restaurant or a shopping mallirrespective of your status identity. In Singapore you don't say anything, DO YOU? YOU wouldn't dare to eat in public during Ramadan, inDubai. 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 ISDcalls are billed to someone else." YOU would not dare to speed beyond 55mph (88 km/h) in Washington and then tell the traffic cop, "Jaanta hai main kaun hoon (Do you know who I am?). I am so and so's son. Take yourtwo bucks and get lost." YOU wouldn't chuck an empty coconut shellanywhere other than the garbage pail on the beaches in Australia and NewZealand. Why don't YOU spit Paan on the streets of Tokyo?Why don't YOUuse examination jockeys or buy fake certificates in Boston???We arestill 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 theroad the moment you touch Indian ground. If you can be an involved andappreciative citizen in an alien country, why cannot you be the samehere in India?Once in an interview, the famous Ex-municipal commis sioner ofBombay,Mr.Tinaikar, had a point to make. "Rich people's dogs are walkedon the streets to leave their affluent droppings all over the place," hesaid. "And then the same people turn around to criticize and blame theauthorities for inefficiency and dirty pavements. What do they expectthe 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 afterhis pet has done the job.Same in Japan. Will the Indian citizen do thathere?"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 andexpect the government to do everything for us whilst our contribution istotally 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 tostop to pick a up a stray piece of paper and throw it in the bin. Weexpect the railways to provide clean bathrooms but we are not going tolearn the proper use of bathrooms. We want Indian Airlines and Air Indiato provide the best of food and toiletries but we are not going to stoppilfering at the least opportunity.This applies even to the staff who isknown not to pass on the service to the public. When it comes to burningsocial 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, howwill it matter if I alone forego my sons' rights to a dowry." So who'sgoing 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 notme and YOU. When it comes to us actually making a positive contributionto the system we lock ourselves along with our families into a safecocoon and look into the distance at countries far away and wait for aMr. Clean to come along & work miracles for us with a majestic sweep ofhis hand or we leave the country and run away.Like lazy cowards hounded by our fears we run to America to bask intheir glory and praise their system. When New York becomes insecure werun to England. When England experiences unemployment, we take the next flight out to the Gulf. When the Gulf is war struck, we demand to berescued and brought home by the Indian government. Everybody is out toabuse and rape the country. Nobody thinks of feeding the system. Ourconscience is mortgaged to money.Dear Indians, The article is highly thought inductive, calls for a greatdeal of introspection and pricks one's conscience too....I am echoingJ.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 INDIAWHAT AMERICA AND OTHER WESTERN COUNTRIES ARE TODAY" Lets do what Indianeeds from us.Forward this mail to each Indian for a change instead of sending Jokes or junk mails.Thank you,Dr. Abdul Kalaam( PRESIDENT OF INDIA )
We have not conquered anyone. We have not grabbed their land, theirculture, their history and tried to enforce our way of life on them.Why? Because we respect the freedom of others. That is why my firstvision 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 thisfreedom that we must protect and nurture and build on. If we are notfree, 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 10percent growth rate in most areas. Our poverty levels are falling. Ourachievements are being globally recognized today. Yet we lack theself-confidence to see ourselves as a developed nation, self- reliantand 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 respectsstrength. We must be strong not only as a military power but also as aneconomic power. Both must go hand-in-hand. My good fortune was to have worked with three great minds. Dr. Vikram Sarabhai of the Dept. ofspace,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: 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. 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 met its mission requirements in 1994.
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.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 calipers 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 calipers and took them to the orthopedic center. 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 recognizeour own strengths, our achievements? We are such a great nation.We have so many amazing success stories but we refuse to acknowledgethem. 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 wasthe day after a lot of attacks and bombardments and deaths had takenplace. The Hamas had struck. But the front page of the newspaper had thepicture of a Jewish gentleman who in five years had transformed hisdesert land into an orchid and a granary. It was this inspiring picturethat everyone woke up to. The gory details of killings, bombardments, deaths, were inside in the newspaper, buried among other news. In Indiawe only read about death, sickness, terrorism, crime. Why are we soNEGATIVE?Another question : Why are we, as a nation so obsessed with foreign things? We want foreign TVs, we want foreign shirts. We want foreigntechnology.Why this obsession with everything imported. Do we notrealize that self-respect comes with self-reliance? I was in Hyderabadgiving 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 adeveloped India. For her, you and I will have to build this developedIndia. You must proclaim. India is not an under-developed nation; it is a highly developed nation.Do you have 10 minutes? Allow me to come back with a vengeance. Got 10minutes for your country? If yes, then read; otherwise, choice is yours.YOU say that our government is inefficient.YOU say that our laws are tooold.YOU say that the municipality does not pick up the garbage.YOU saythat the phones don' t work, the railways are a joke, the airline is theworst in the world, mails never reach their destination. YOU say that our country has been fed to the dogs and is the absolutepits.YOU say, say and say. What do YOU do about it?Take a person on his way to Singapore..... Give him a name - YOURS. Givehim 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 theroads or eat in the stores. YOU are as proud of their Underground linksas they are. You pay $5 (approx. Rs.60) to drive through Orchard Road (equivalent of Mahim Causeway or Pedder Road) between5 PM and 8 PM. YOU comeback to the parking lot to punch your parkingticket if you have over stayed in a restaurant or a shopping mallirrespective of your status identity. In Singapore you don't say anything, DO YOU? YOU wouldn't dare to eat in public during Ramadan, inDubai. 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 ISDcalls are billed to someone else." YOU would not dare to speed beyond 55mph (88 km/h) in Washington and then tell the traffic cop, "Jaanta hai main kaun hoon (Do you know who I am?). I am so and so's son. Take yourtwo bucks and get lost." YOU wouldn't chuck an empty coconut shellanywhere other than the garbage pail on the beaches in Australia and NewZealand. Why don't YOU spit Paan on the streets of Tokyo?Why don't YOUuse examination jockeys or buy fake certificates in Boston???We arestill 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 theroad the moment you touch Indian ground. If you can be an involved andappreciative citizen in an alien country, why cannot you be the samehere in India?Once in an interview, the famous Ex-municipal commis sioner ofBombay,Mr.Tinaikar, had a point to make. "Rich people's dogs are walkedon the streets to leave their affluent droppings all over the place," hesaid. "And then the same people turn around to criticize and blame theauthorities for inefficiency and dirty pavements. What do they expectthe 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 afterhis pet has done the job.Same in Japan. Will the Indian citizen do thathere?"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 andexpect the government to do everything for us whilst our contribution istotally 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 tostop to pick a up a stray piece of paper and throw it in the bin. Weexpect the railways to provide clean bathrooms but we are not going tolearn the proper use of bathrooms. We want Indian Airlines and Air Indiato provide the best of food and toiletries but we are not going to stoppilfering at the least opportunity.This applies even to the staff who isknown not to pass on the service to the public. When it comes to burningsocial 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, howwill it matter if I alone forego my sons' rights to a dowry." So who'sgoing 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 notme and YOU. When it comes to us actually making a positive contributionto the system we lock ourselves along with our families into a safecocoon and look into the distance at countries far away and wait for aMr. Clean to come along & work miracles for us with a majestic sweep ofhis hand or we leave the country and run away.Like lazy cowards hounded by our fears we run to America to bask intheir glory and praise their system. When New York becomes insecure werun to England. When England experiences unemployment, we take the next flight out to the Gulf. When the Gulf is war struck, we demand to berescued and brought home by the Indian government. Everybody is out toabuse and rape the country. Nobody thinks of feeding the system. Ourconscience is mortgaged to money.Dear Indians, The article is highly thought inductive, calls for a greatdeal of introspection and pricks one's conscience too....I am echoingJ.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 INDIAWHAT AMERICA AND OTHER WESTERN COUNTRIES ARE TODAY" Lets do what Indianeeds from us.Forward this mail to each Indian for a change instead of sending Jokes or junk mails.Thank you,Dr. Abdul Kalaam( PRESIDENT OF INDIA )
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