I was born into a middle-class Tamil family in the island town of Rameswaram in the erstwhile Madras State.

 

My father, Jainulabdeen, had neither much formal education nor much wealth; despite these disadvantages, he possessed great innate  wisdom and a true generosity of spirit. He had an ideal helpmate in my mother, Ashiamma. I do not recall the exact number of people she fed every day, but I am quite certain that far more outsiders ate with us than all the members of our own family put together.

I was one of many children – a short boy with rather undistinguished looks, born to tall and handsome parents. We lived in our ancestral house, which was built in the middle of the nineteenth century. It was a fairly large pucca
house, made of limestone and brick, on the Mosque Street in Rameswaram. My austere father used to avoid all inessential comforts and luxuries. However, all necessities were provided for, in terms of food, medicine or clothes. In fact, I would say mine was a very secure childhood, both materially and emotionally.

The Second World War broke out in 1939, when I was eight years old. For reasons I have never been able to understand, a sudden demand for tamarind seeds erupted in the market. I used to collect the seeds and sell them to a provision shop on Mosque Street. A day’s collection would fetch me the princely sum of one anna. My brother-in-law Jallaluddin would tell me stories about the War which I would later attempt to trace in the headlines in Dinamani.

 

Our area, being isolated, was completely unaffected by the War. But soon India was forced to join the Allied Forces and something like a state of emergency was declared. The first casualty came in the form of the suspension of the train halt at Rameswaram station. The newspapers now had to be bundled and thrown out from the moving train on the Rameswaram Road between Rameswaram and Dhanuskodi. That forced my cousin Samsuddin, who distributed newspapers in Rameswarm, to look for a helping hand to catch the bundles and, as if naturally, I filled the slot. Samsuddin helped me earn my first wages. Half a century later, I can still feel the surge of pride in earning my own money for the first time.

Every child is born, with some inherited characteristics, into a specific socio-economic and emotional environment, and trained in certain ways by figures of authority. I inherited honesty and self discipline from my father; from my
mother, I inherited faith in goodness and deep kindness and so did my three brothers and sister.

 

I had three close friends in my childhood – Ramanandha Sastry, Aravindan and Sivaprakasan. All these boys were from orthodox Hindu Brahmin families. As children, none of us ever felt any difference amongst ourselves because of our religious differences and upbringing. In fact, Ramanandha Sastry was the son of Pakshi Lakshmana Sastry, the high priest of the Rameswaram temple. Later, he took over the priesthood of the Rameswaram temple from his father; Aravindan went into the business of arranging transport for visiting pilgrims; and Sivaprakasan became a catering contractor for the Southern Railways.

During the annual Shri Sita Rama Kalyanam ceremony, our family used to arrange boats with a special platform for carrying idols of the Lord from the temple to the marriage site, situated in the middle of the pond called Rama Tirtha
which was near our house. Events from the Ramayana and from the life of the Prophet were the bedtime stories my mother and grandmother would tell the children in our family.

One day when I was in the fifth standard at the Rameswaram Elementary School, a new teacher came to our class. I used to wear a cap which marked me as a Muslim, and I always sat in the front row next to Ramanadha Sastry, who
wore the sacred thread. The new teacher could not stomach a Hindu priest’s son sitting with a Muslim boy.

In accordance with our social ranking as the new teacher saw it, I was asked to go and sit on the back bench. I felt very sad, and so did Ramanandha Sastry. He looked utterly downcast as I shifted to my seat in the last row. The image of him weeping when I shifted to the last row left a lasting impression on me.

After school, we went home and told our respective parents about the incident. Lakshmana Sastry summoned the teacher, and in our presence, told the teacher that he should not spread the poison of social inequality and communal
intolerance into the minds of innocent children. He bluntly asked the teacher to either apologise or quit the school and the island. Not only did the teacher regret his behaviour, but the strong sense of conviction Lakshmana Sastry conveyed ultimately reformed this young teacher.

On the whole, the small society of Rameswaram was very rigid in terms of the segregation of different social groups. However, my science teacher Sivasubramania Iyer, though an orthodox Brahmin with a very conservative wife, was something of a rebel. He did his best to break social barriers so that people from varying backgrounds could mingle easily. He used to spend hours with me and would say, “Kalam, I want you to develop so that you are on par with the
highly educated people of the big cities.”

One day, he invited me to his home for a meal. His wife was horrified at the idea of a Muslim boy being invited to dine in her ritually pure kitchen. She refused to serve me in her kitchen. Sivasubramania Iyer was not perturbed, nor did he get angry with his wife, but instead, served me with his own hands and sat down beside me to eat his meal. His wife watched us from behind the kitchen door. I wondered whether she had observed any difference in the way I ate rice, drank water or cleaned the floor after the meal. When I was leaving his house, Sivasubramania Iyer invited me to join him for dinner again the next weekend. Observing my hesitation, he told me not to get upset, saying, “Once you decide to change the system, such problems have to be confronted.”

 

When I visited his house the next week, Sivasubramania Iyer’s wife took me inside her kitchen and served me food with her own hands.

Then the Second World War was over and India’s freedom was imminent. “Indians will build their own India,” declared Gandhiji. The whole country was filled with an unprecendented optimism. I asked my father for permission to leave Rameswaram and study at the district headquarter in Ramanathapuram.

 

He told me as if thinking aloud, “Abdul! I know you have to go away to grow. Does the seagull not fly across the sun, alone and without a nest?” He quoted Khalil Gibran to my hesitant mother, “Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself. They come through you but not from you. You may give them your love but not your thoughts. For they have their own thoughts.”

A.P.J. ABDUL KALAM
[an extract from Wings of Fire]

3. Word notes:

​

erstwhile : former
innate : inborn quality or feeling of a person
undistinguished look : not very good or impressive look
austere : simple, strict and severe
erupted : broke out suddenly
princely sum : generous amount (here ironic remark)
anna : an Indian coin worth about six paise.
Dinamani : a local daily newspaper

Allied Forces : the armies of U.K., U.S.A. and Russia during the second World war.
slot : a place given to someone for a short period of time
surge : powerful rush of emotion
could not stomach : could not tolerate.
conviction : a strong opinion or belief
segregation : the enforced seperation of different racial groups in a country, community or place.
conservative : not liking changes or new ideas and holding traditional values.
mingle : mix together
on par: at the same level or standard
ritually pure : kept protected from outside influences for the observance of religion

to be confronted : to face something 
imminent : an event about to happen (especially an unpleasant one)
unprecedented : never done or known before; new

​

SOLUTIONS

A. Answer the following questions in a sentence each:

i. Where was Abdul Kalam’s house situated?
Ans: Abdul Kalam’s house was situated on the Mosque Street in the Island town of Rameswaram in the erstwhile Madras State.

ii. How does Abdul Kalam describe himself as a child?
Ans: Abdul Kalam describes himself as one of many children –a short boy with rather undistinguished looks, born to tall and handsome parents.

iii. As a child why does Abdul Kalam read Dinamani, the newspaper?
Ans: As a child, Abdul Kalam read Dinamani, the newspaper in order to trace stories related to the Second World War

in the headlines of the newspaper.

iv. What qualities did Abdul Kalam inherit from his father?
Ans: From his father, Abdul Kalam inherited honesty and self-discipline.

v. Apart from the events from the life of the Prophet, what other stories did Abdul Kalam as a child hear from his mother and grandmother?
Ans: As a child Abdul Kalam was told events from the Ramayana by his mother and grandmother apart from the events from the life of the Prophet.

vi. Where was Abdul Kalam asked to sit by the new teacher?
Ans: Abdul Kalam was asked by the new teacher to sit on the back bench.

vii. Why did Sivasubramania Iyer serve Abdul Kalam himself?
Ans: Sivasubramania Iyer served Abdul Kalam himself because his conservative wife refused to serve a Muslim boy in her kitchen.

viii. When Abdul Kalam visited Sivasubramania’s house again, who served food to Abdul Kalam?
Ans: When Abdul Kalam visited Sivasubramania’s house again, it was Sivasubramania’s conservative wife who served him food with her own hands.

B. Answer the following questions briefly:

i. Who were Abdul Kalam’s close school friends? What did they later become?
Ans: Abdul Kalam’s close school friends in his childhood were Ramanandha Sastry, Aravindan and Sivaprakashan.
Ramanandha became the high priest of the Rameswaram temple after his father; Aravindan went into the business of arranging transport for visiting pilgrims and Sivaprakashan became a catering contractor for the Southern Railways.

ii. How does Abdul Kalam describe his parents and what are the characteristics he inherited from them?
Ans: Abdul Kalam described his parents as tall and handsome. His father possessed great innate wisdom and a true generosity of spirit and his mother was an ideal helpmate to him. His austere father used to avoid all inessential comforts and luxuries but all necessities were provided to his children. Abdul Kalam inherited honesty and discipline from his father and from his mother, he inherited faith in goodness and deep kindness.

iii. How did Abdul Kalam earn his first wages as a child?
Ans: As a casualty of the Second World War, trains did not halt at Rameswaram station. As a result, the newspapers which were carried by train were bundled and thrown out from the moving train on the Rameswaram Road between Rameswaram and Dhanuskodi. Samsuddin, Abdul Kalam’s cousin, distributed newspapers in Rameswaram and he needed a helping hand to catch the bundles and Abdul Kalam filled the slot. Thus, Abdul Kalam earned his first wages as a child.

iv. What did Abdul Kalam’s family do during the annual Shri Sita Rama Kalyanam ceremony?
Ans: During the annual Shri Sita Rama Kalyanam ceremony, Abdul Kalam’s family used to arrange boats with a special platform for carrying idols of the Lord from the temple to the marriage site, situated in the middle of the pond called Rama Tirtha.

v. ‘I felt very sad, and so did Ramanandha Sastry.’ Why did the boys feel very sad?
Ans: When Abdul Kalam was in the fifth standard at the Rameswaram Elementary School, he always sat in the front row next to his close friend, Ramanandha Sastry. The new teacher who came to their class could not stomach a Hindu priest’s son sitting with a Muslim boy. So, in accordance with their social ranking, Abdul Kalam was asked to go and sit on the back bench. This incident made the boys feel very sad.

vi. Who was Lakshmana Sastry? How could he reform the young new teacher?
Ans: Lakshmana Sastry who was Ramanandha Sastry’s father was the high priest of the Rameswaram temple. When he heard of the social discrimination which had taken place in his son’s class, he summoned and told the teacher that he should not spread the poison of social inequality and communal intolerance in the minds of innocent children. He also bluntly asked the teacher either to apologies or quit the school and the island. His strong sense of conviction ultimately reformed the young new teacher.

vii. Why does Abdul Kalam describe his science teacher as a rebel?
Ans: In Abdul Kalam’s childhood days, the small society of Rameswaram was very rigid in terms of the segregation of different social groups. However, his science teacher Sivasubramania Iyer, though an orthodox Brahmin with a conservative wife, did his best to break social barriers so that people from varying backgrounds could mingle easily. He would spend hours with Abdul Kalam, a Muslim boy and even invited him to a meal at his home. He even served Kalam himself and sat down beside Kalam to eat his meal. He told Kalam that in order to change the system, problems had to be confronted. For these reasons, Abdul Kalam described his science teacher as a rebel.