My Interview With Dr.

Abdul Kalam

Last month, I interviewed Dr Abdul Kalam, former president of India and my story just came out
in Little India- the largest publication for Indians in America. Thought of sharing with you.

Abdul Kalam on Competition and Dependence

Priyanka Joshi

President Abdul Kalam shares a joke with Nelson Mandela during a visit to Johannesburg in
2004.

Indian President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam is popularly known as the “Missile Man of India” for his
contributions to the development of “Agni” and “Prithvi” strategic ballistic missiles and he was a
major force behind the country’s Pokharan II nuclear tests. The youngest child of a Muslim
boatman and best selling author of eight books, including his autobiography, Wings of Fire,
Kalam is renowned for his simple, almost austere lifestyle.

Pres. Kalam sat down for an interview with Little India during a recent visit to the University of
Washington’s South Asian Center in Seattle.

Q: Dr. Kalam, you say the nation comes before the individual. What is your take on American
business owners who have outsourced the jobs of their countrymen?

A: Every nation has to follow a certain policy: Commercial, trade, various other types of
policies. The phenomenon of globalization is going on. If you consider the law of development,
there are two types of nations. One category holds the developed nations, numbering less than
10, and the second category holds the hundreds of developing nations. Developed nations
produce and market products in their own country and throughout the world. Only then can they
survive as developed nations. Developing nations want to become developed nations. So, they
have to produce products and competitively market them globally. So what is the commonality
in the picture? Competitiveness! That is a key concept. Cost, quality, marketing — all make up
factors of competitiveness. So, all nations have to work competitively, all nations have to depend
on each other, work together. There’s nothing wrong in it.
Q: How do you envision the epic communal divide between Muslims and Hindus bridged in
India?

A: Let me tell you a story. The Europeans fought with each other for hundreds of years. They
even created two world wars. But today, we see that these same 23 nations have created the
European Union. There are rich, not so rich, and poor nations in the EU, and all of them are
working towards making Europeans live prosperous, happy lives. So, in India also such changes
will happen, in fact throughout the whole world — the earlier the better. To give another
example, U.S.A. and U.S.S.R., during the Cold War, generated 10,000 nuclear warheads. Today
they are friends. They are saying they are working for world peace, they say they will bring
down the number of nuclear warheads. So, historically, this cycle has to come to India too. Good
things will happen.

Q: You’ve been called the “Missile Man of India” and the “People’s President.” Is there an
incongruity between your desire to empower the world with peace and making India a nuclear
power?

A: I am innocent to the whole affair! I did not call myself these names! (laughs). When a nation
is surrounded by weaponized nations, she has to equip herself. That’s what India has done. To
make the nation peaceful and prosperous, we need minimum security. That’s what we have done.

Q: What was your immediate reaction when “Agni” and “Prithvi” missiles were successful?

A: I was right there and witnessed the whole thing. Courage is key. My message, especially to
young people is to have courage to think differently, courage to invent, to travel the unexplored
path, courage to discover the impossible and to conquer the problems and succeed. These are
great qualities that they must work towards. This is my message to the young people.

Q: And who taught you this message?

A: Myself. I had to learn this myself. Literature also influenced me deeply. In India, we have a
famous book called, Thirukkul, written 2,200 years back. I’ll quote a couplet: “If your thoughts
are high, definitely you’re going to work for your aim, definitely you will succeed. But
conversely, if you don’t have an aim, don’t have high thoughts, how can you aim at success?”
My second favorite book is Light From Many Lamps, by (Lillian Eichler) Watson. And the third
book that I love is Empire of the Mind. These three books have made my life.

Q: How did you feel when you realized that you didn’t have to support your family with your
newspaper route anymore?

President Abdul Kalam shares a joke with anti apartheid icon Nelson Mandela during a visit to
Johannesburg in 2004.
A: I was the youngest member of my family, a student when World War II broke out. We were
under the British rule at that time and the country was going through some tough times. But after
the war ended, I didn’t have to sell newspapers anymore and life returned to normal again.
Q: How come you’re such a transparently sincere person?
A: See, I firmly believe that the nation has to be bigger than the individual and the individual has
to work for the nation. If you’re working for yourself, you’ll not be transparent. But once you put
the nation above you, you become transparent.