Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam abbreviated as A.P.J Abdul Kalam who was later titled as Missile Man of India .Father Jainulabdeen and Mother Ashiamma gave birth to Kalam into a middle-class Tamil Family on 15 October 1931 in the island town of Rameswaram in the erstwhile Madras state. Jainulabdeen possessed great innate wisdom and a true generosity of spirit. Mother Ashiamma was kind and helpmate to his father and she was accustomed to feed people at home along with family members. Kalam once asked his father about the relevance of prayer to which his father replied "when you pray ,you transcend your body and become a part of cosmos ,which knows no division of wealth, age, caste or creed." Kalam emulated his father in his own world of science and technology and believed that there exists a divine power that can lift up one from confusion, misery, melancholy and failure and guide one to one's true place. Kalam grew up with two companions of his time first Jallaluddin and then Samsuddin. The unschooled wisdom of Jallaluddin and Samsuddin proved intuitive to Kalam and it's the their company which Kalam attributes to his creativity from the childhood.

Kalam stepped into Rameswaram Elementary School for early education then took off to Schwartz High School with Samsuddin and Jallaluddin accompanying him to Ramanathapuram to enroll him into the same. During Kalam's stay at Ramanathapuram ,his relationship with his Teacher Iyadurai Solomon grew beyond that of a teacher and a pupil. When Kalam was in Fourth form teacher Ramakrishna Iyer caught Kalam by his neck for disturbing his maths class and later when Kalamscored full marks in mathematics, Ramakrishna Iyer stood up at the assembly and praised Kalam and said "Whomsoever I cane becomes a great man! Take my words, this boy is going to bring glory to his school and to his teachers.” Kalam after Schwartz completion took admission at the nearest college named St. Joseph's College at Tiruchchirapalli. Kalam's Elder Brother Mustafa Kamal ran a provisional store and would call Kalam for help where Kalam many a times sold Oil, Onions, rice and everything else after the college hours. Kalam acquired a great taste for English Literature only in the Final year at St. Joseph's, from there he moved to Philosophy and at the same time he developed a great interest in Physics. His Physics teachers Professor Chinna Dural and Professor Krishnamurthy introduced Kalam to the concept of the half-life period. Only after obtaining a B.Sc. Kalam realised that physics was not his subject but engineering. He then applied for admission the Madras Institute of Technology and he managed to be on the list of selected candidates but Financial constraints worried Kalam, it was his Sister who stood behind him mortgaging her Gold Bangles and Chain to let Kalam step into MIT.
Kalam went ahead with full steam to earn scholarship at the institute for his studies and vowed himself to release her sister's bangles from mortgage. Kalam once participated in an essay competition organised by The MIT Tamil Sangam and he won the competition with his essay titled as " Let Us Make Our Own Aircraft". Kalam was having a close touch with Professor Sponder who used to taught him technical Aerodynamics At MIT ,once when all graduating students had lined up in three rows with the professors seated in the front, professor Sponder got up and looked for Kalam who was standing in the third "Come and sit with me in the front, you are my best student and hard work will help you bring great name for your teachers in future” he said and Kalam sat with professor Sponder for the photograph.
Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) was waiting for Kalam and he joined HAL at Bangalore as a trainee. When Kalam came out of HAL as a graduate aeronautical engineer two employment opportunities welcomed him. One was a career in the Air Force which Kalam was aspiring for and another was a job at the Directorate of Technical Development and Production, DTD&P(AIR), at the ministry of Defence.Kalam was called for the interview from both parties. Kalam ranked ninth in the batch of 25 examined to select eight officers in the Air Force. It disappointed Kalam, then he enquired at DTD&P(AIR) about the outcome of his result which favoured him when he got the appointment letter in return.Kalam joined as Senior Scientific Assistant on a basic salary of 250/-per month. After this head start Kalam kept climbing the mountain of success and reverence and never stopped. Kalam was posted to new Establishment named Aeronautical Development Establishment(ADE) at Bangalore. Kalam along with the team made India's first hovercraft it was names Nandi. Then Defence Minister Krishna Menon flew in the Nandi with Kalam for a trial, which was successful and it elated Defence Minister with hope and happiness.
In no time Kalam received a call from Indian Committee for Space Research (INCOSPAR) for the post of Rocket Engineer. Soon after joining INCOSPAR as Rocket Engineer Kalam was asked to proceed to America for a six month training programme on sounding rocket launching techniques at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) work centres. In 1963Kalam worked at NASA at the Langley Research Centre(LRC) in Hampton, Virginia.
After his return to the country Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) was created under the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) to conduct space research in the country. In 1969 Kalam was chosen to be the project Leader for the mission of Indian SLV(Satellite Launch Vehicle).Under Kalam's Supervision SLV-III successfully deployed the Rohini satellite in near-earth orbit in July 1980. In 1970s Kalam also directed two projects , Project Devil and Project Valiant, which sought to develop ballistic missiles from the technology of the successful SLV programme these projects earned Kalam the title Missile Man of India. Kalam was determined to take Indian Technology to the skies and he gave his life for his dream to built India a tech advance country. Kalam later served as the chief Scientific Adviser to the Prime Minister and Secretary of the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) from 1992 to 1999.
Kalam successful career got him 7 honorary doctorates from 40 Universities from around the world. The government of India honored him with Padma Bhushanin 1981 and Padma Vibhushan in 1990 for his unending scientific research for the country. In 1997 Kalam Also received Bharat Ratnawhich is India's highest civilian honour for his contribution to scientific research and modernisation of defence technology in India. The list of awards and achievements goes long for Kalam but what crowned his long journey of career was when we was elected as the 11th president of India in 2002. Kalam was referred as the "People's President." We lost Kalam on 27th july 2015 while he was delivering a lecture at the Indian Institute of Management Shillong where he collapsed and died from cardiac arrest. He was given back to the soil of his hometown Rameswaram with full state honours.

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