Friday, July 31, 2015

Kalam after Gandhi

The nation cried after a very long time. It wept when Gandhi left, tears trickled down when Nehru departed and now an avalanche of tears and emotions flowed when Kalam passed away. That mere religion is not at the root of genuine love, respect and emotion is the true learning from this incident that engulfed the nation into sadness.

Today is Guru Punima, the day of reverence to all our teachers and what can be better than to remember the true teachers that this nation had, Gandhi, Nehru and Kalam. Gandhi gave us our greatest gift, the gift of freedom that he snatched from the jaws of the British, armed only with the greatest power on earth, the power of non violence, the power of non submission to what is inherently wrong. Gandhi was also the most powerful man ever to walk on earth for his power was truly personal, the genuine power that emerges from being truthful and one with humanity and this trait alone ensured the submission of the greatest nation of that time to the rightful demands of a very big section of the humanity. And Nehru led this nation in its most difficult times.

Kalam, I met for the first time properly when along with Arunima, my better half we went to his residence to invite him for the annual function of the railway women’s organization. His simplicity was just amazing for we could never have visualized such a big man to be so simple, so down to earth and so humble. Accustomed to the rough ways of those in power and also out of it, we were simply charmed into submission and at that very moment we fell in love with the greatest of human being we had ever met in our lives. He came for the event and conquered forever the hearts of all the railwaymen present for the grandest yet simplest function of their lives.

Kalam, the truest teacher that this nation has ever had showed us the meaning of words like humbleness, humility, commitment, truth, integrity and being true to oneself, the organization and the nation. That these are not mere words from the english vocabulary but have a great inherent meaning and value for the humankind is the biggest learning imparted by the greatest missile man and the finest president ever born in this republic.

He mingled with the differently abled kids on the day of the function as if he were a kid himself and therefore could feel the pain and the joys of being one whom the allmighty has made not like many others. His beaming face, his voice laced with emotion and love and his direct connect with the people, especially the children who are the future simply transports one to a different environment.

And to the men in power and out of it, his life is a subtle message that authority is vested only for the good of people at large, not for self aggrandizement.

His soul left his body while he was teaching at Shillong, a true teacher he was.

Gandhi once said “My life is my message”. Kalam never had to say it, yet his life shall forever remain the most powerful message for the nation after Gandhi.

12 comments:

  1. A heart touching blog, written by heart. Would love to read it again. Kamal the Kalam.

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  2. thank you sir for such a amazing writing

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  3. thank you sir for such a amazing writing

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  4. Sir
    Congratulations on taking over AI. May I mail. you a concise summary of the challenges faced by the organisation? I am a serving employee with 23 years of experience and I am joining a private airline because of the mess AI s in. There is no vested interest for me- just a desire to see better days for our unfortunate national carrier. Regards

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  5. My email address is stratocruiser1967@Gmail.com

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  6. Beautifully written.

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  7. Nobody harms india as much the indian themselves do. The powerful people around who go to foreign tours at company expense ostensibly on inspection. What inspection, what precedence and where is the report. Air India is mafia organization, you are accepted if you too collude in bleeding the very mother that feed you all.

    Look at the director who went to tokyo recently , smokes heavily and drinks heavily in company funded parties .
    Such people are going to be advisers.

    PS to CMD, whose son among 8 sons of bosses in close proximity of power that be, were appointed as pilot on CRJ when its average utilization was mere 24 hrs as against maximum stipulated 125Hr by DGCA. To ensure their illgotten career , approval of 22 CRJ was obtained from dud board in spite of poorest dispatch reliability of this plane.
    Now when CRJ is getting phased out these lads are included in the quota which is meant of CPL holder permanent employees . It would not have raised eye brows, had the hapless 8 who were thrown out three years back when 737 was phased out, They were not employed even with 4yrs service and over 800 hrs of medium jet experience.
    If they were not employed in spite of executive order of CMD then, why would it be given for those who came wrong way when utilization was mere 24 hrs a month.

    Think over , air india went down due to leeching habit of its mafia members, with boss eating morsel and subordinate at dog bone.

    God bless you and help you succeed in freeing the asset from such cannibals

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  8. Sir, have written earlier about the anomalies in Air India, where ground frontline staff is expected to work and all other back offices are pampered. Look at the instance of work hours, the frontline staff does not get the benefit of 5 day weak but all backend depts do. Bosses who are to provide this benefit to the staff cringe as they themselves want to enjoy. Why Sir should the frontline be deprived of this simple benefit, we are not insisting on Mon - Fri week with Sat-sun off. Like in Delhi and Mumbai why cant all city offices work on a five day pattern taking one Sunday and another any mid week day off. Why does Air India have rules as per their locations in India? Sir please provide respite to frontline staff by giving 5 week day module for all

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  9. Interesting blog, I really like reading on your post it will inspire me more to visit your site more often and i'm looking forward to read more blog from you soon.
    Leadership coach India | Top Motivational Speaker in India

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