After Jawaharlal Nehru, if any public personality has made an impact on the consciousness of the children of the country, it is APJ Abdul Kalam. Scholastic India recently released under its Great Lives series the biography of the people’s President whose first death anniversary falls this month. With text by Shamim Padamsee and art by Lavanya Karthik, the book follows the remarkable journey of the man who ignited minds, bringing to fore his perseverance, hard work and exemplary vision which won him the hearts of millions of Indians.
Describing him as a selfless leader who had the welfare of the nation close to his heart, Padamsee says she felt inspired while researching for the book.
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The man himself! Coming from a humble background, and that too from small-town India, he was able to rise above the many hurdles with steadfastness and a strong sense of purpose. He never hesitated to reach for the stars yet had his feet firmly planted on the ground.
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Dr. Kalam's life was replete with challenges of all kinds. The more I read about him, the more I wanted to read. I read his autobiographical works, his speeches, as well as, articles about him. Luckily for me as the President of India, there was no dearth of material on his life. The challenge was not on where to find material about him rather it was on making decisions on what to leave out. As it was a book for children, I did not want it to be too data-heavy. Children generally do not read biographies, unless it is mandated by schools. I wanted to create in them a love for reading the biographies of great people –– their struggles, and how they achieved success. Hence, the book had to have just the right amount of information to grab their attention. Hoping that what they read would pique their interest and make them want to find out more, I kept the style of narration more anecdotal rather than sequential.
Tell us about the use of quasi-graphic style in the biography.
I think the concept is brilliant. When Tina Narang, my editor, mooted the idea I was utterly delighted. As I mentioned biographies are generally shunned by children and this was a great way of showcasing one with that was visually appealing, with the appropriate amount of text to whet their appetite.
While writing the book did you discover or imbibe some of his traits?
His never-say-die attitude. He had an amazing confidence that he would find the solutions to seemingly impossible tasks and his caring for one and all. His first assignment at the Defence Research Development Organisation was to create a hovercraft. He looked around for design solutions and found none –– neither through books nor experts in the field. Everywhere he searched he reached a dead-end street (this was pre-search engine days). He could have abandoned the project but he wasn’t one to give up easily. He said the Wright Brothers were bicycle mechanics and if they could come up with a blueprint for an aircraft that could actually fly, how difficult would it be for them to create a hovercraft? And he went on to design one that worked.
Another thing which I learnt, though not mentioned in the book, is that when the compound wall was being built for the Indian Space Research Organisation, Hyderabad, the plan was to embed broken glass pieces to keep intruders away. Kalam vetoed the idea, for he was concerned that birds that perched on it would injure themselves.
When his term as the President was getting over, someone aware of his love for the Mughal Gardens asked him if he would miss it. He said although he would soon be leaving the Gardens, they would stay in a special corner of his heart. He added that one should not be so greedy as to want to enjoy it for a longer time as it was time to let someone else have the pleasure.
What are your thoughts about the Great Lives series?
Most of the well-written biographies accessed by Indian children are from other nations. They can easily rattle off a string of Western scientists, artists and writers. How many of the luminaries of the Indian sub-continent do they know? Hence, this timely series fills in that gap beautifully. When children read it they will realise that a lot of good work has happened and is happening all around the country and will feel a sense of pride in our nation. Here I would like cite an example of mismatched learning. Once with a youngster in tow, I attended a workshop being conducted at the National Gallery of Modern Art. Under the roof housing the great Indian masters –– Raza, Sabavala, Padamsee, Souza and Anjolie Ela Menon among others, the resource person only talked about the salient features of the European artists, Van Gogh, Monet and others!