I have worked under Dr APJ Abdul Kalam for over a decade. This might seem to disqualify me as his biog- rapher, and I certainly had no notion of being one. One day, while speaking to him, I asked him if he had a message for young Indians. His message fascinated me. Later, I mustered the courage to ask him about his recollec- tions so that I could pen them down before they were buried irretrievably under the sands of time.
We had a long series of sittings late into the night and early under the fading stars of dawn-all somehow stolen from his very busy schedule of eighteen hours a day. The profundity and range of his ideas mesmerized me. He had tremendous vitality and obviously received immense pleasure from the world of ideas. His conversation was not always easy to fol- low, but was always fresh and stimulating. There were com- nlevities subtleties and intriguing metaphors and subplots
We had a long series of sittings late into the night and early under the fading stars of dawn-all somehow stolen from his very busy schedule of eighteen hours a day. The profundity and range of his ideas mesmerized me. He had tremendous vitality and obviously received immense pleasure from the world of ideas. His conversation was not always easy to fol- low, but was always fresh and stimulating. There were com- plexities, subtleties, and intriguing metaphors and subplots in his narrative, but gradually the unfolding of his brilliant mind took the form of a continuous discourse.
When I sat down to write this book, I felt that it required greater skills than I possessed. But realising the importance of this task and regarding it an honour to have been permit- ted to attempt it, I prayed earnestly for the courage and cali- bre to complete it.
This book is written for the ordinary people of India for whom Dr Kalam has an immense affection, and of whom Dr Kalam is certainly one. He has an intuitive rapport with the humblest and simplest people, an indication of his own sim-
