Dr Kalam's sudden death has shaken us all. But let's try and put ourselves in the shoes of Srijan Pal Singh, Advisor to the ex-President, who was with him on his last journey. From the flight he boarded on 27th July 2015 to Guhawati, to IIM-Shilong, where Kalam gave his last lecture, Srijan recollects his last memories with India's Missile Man, the last words he spoke before he collapsed into the podium. Here's the heartbreaking account: How do you come to terms with the fact that someone you spoke to just a few hours ago is now no more? Especially when that someone is none other than India's 11th President, and one of the best teachers of our country, Dr APJ Abdul Kalam? What I will be remembered for, my memory of the last day with great Kalam sir. It has been eight hours since we last talked – sleep eludes me and memories keep flushing down, sometimes as tears. Our day, 27th July, began at 12 noon, when we took our seats in the flight to Guhawati. Dr. Kalam was 1A and I was IC. He was wearing a dark colored “Kalam suitâ€, and I started off complimenting, “Nice color!†Little did I know this was going to be the last color I will see on him. Long, 2.5 hours of flying in the monsoon weather. I hate turbulence, and he had mastered over them. Whenever he would see me go cold in shaking plane, he would just pull down the window pane and say, “Now you don’t see any fear!â€. That was followed by another 2.5 hours of car drive to IIM-Shillong. For these two legged trip of five hours we talked, discussed and debated. These were among hundreds of the long flights and longer drives we have been together over the last six years. As with each one of them, this was as special too. Three incidents/discussions in particular will be “lasting memories of our last tripâ€. First, Dr. Kalam was absolutely worried about the attacks in Punjab. The loss of innocent lives left him filled with sorrow. The topic of lecture at IIM-Shillong was Creating a Livable Planet Earth. He related the incident to the topic and said, “It seems the man made forces are as big a threat to the livability of earth as pollution.†We discussed on how, if this trend of violence, pollution and reckless human action continues we will forced to leave earth. “Thirty years, at this rate, maybeâ€, he said. “You guys must do something about it…it is going to be your future world.†Our second discussion was more national. For the past two days, Dr. Kalam was worried that time and again Parliament, the supreme institution of democracy, was dysfunctional. He said, “I have seen two different governments in my tenure. I have seen more after that. This disruption just keeps happening. It is not right. I really need to find out a way to ensure that the parliament works on developmental politics.†He then asked me to prepare a surprise assignment question for the students at IIM-Shillong, which he would give them only at the end of the lecture. He wanted to them to suggest three innovative ways to make the Parliament more productive and vibrant. Then, after a while he returned on it. “But how can ask them to give solutions if I don’t have any myself.†For the next one hour, we thwarted options after options, who come up with his recommendation over the issue. We wanted to include this discussion in our upcoming book, Advantage India. Third, was an experience from the beauty of his humility. We were in a convoy of 6-7 cars. Dr. Kalam and I were in the second car. Ahead us was an open gypsy with three soldiers in it. Two of them were sitting on either side and one lean guy was standing atop, holding his gun. One hour into the road journey, Dr. Kalam said, “Why is he standing? He will get tired. This is like punishment. Can you ask a wireless message to given that he may sit?†I had to convince him, he has been probably instructed to keep standing for better security. He did not relent. We tried radio messaging, that did not work. For the next 1.5 hours of the journey, he reminded me thrice to see if I can hand signal him to sit down. Finally, realizing there is little we can do – he told me, “I want to meet him and thank him.†Later, when we landed in IIM-Shillong, I went inquiring through security people and got hold of the standing guy. I took him inside and Dr. Kalam greeted him. He shook his hand, said “Thank you buddy. Are you tired? Would you like something to eat? I am sorry you had to stand so long because of meâ€. The young lean guard, draped in black cloth, was surprised at the treatment. He lost words, just said, “Sir, aapke liye to 6 ghante bhi khade rahenge.†After this, we went to the lecture hall. He did not want to be late for the lecture. “Students should never be made to wait,†he always said. I quickly set up his mike, briefed on final lecture and took position on the computers. As I pinned his mike, he smiled and said, “Funny guy! Are you doing well?†‘Funny guy’, when said by Kalam could mean a variety of things, depending on the tone and your own assessment. It could mean, you have done well, you have messed up something, you should listen to him or just that you have been plain naïve or he was just being jovial. Over six years I had learnt to interpret Funny Guy like the back of my palm. This time it was the last case.
"Dream, dream, dream... Dreams transform into thoughts and thoughts result in action."
-Ignited Minds, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam