Barely had A.P.J. Abdul Kalam demitted office as India's 11th president than he was beset by all the joys and sorrows of being an ordinary man in India.
CHENNAI: Barely had A.P.J. Abdul Kalam demitted office as India's 11th president than he was beset by all the joys and sorrows of being an ordinary man in India. His vision for the country was, however, still intact.
"My aim is to see the smiles of one billion people in the country, I will be happy if I see this," aero scientist Kalam told the media on Thursday after addressing teachers at Anna University here.
"I am going to be with the people, to push India to become an economically-developed nation in the national prosperity index," he said.
However, this may be easier said than done - and Kalam himself experienced how the common man in India is let down every day. On Wednesday, the lights failed at the Anna University guesthouse when Kalam reached there after an eventful day in New Delhi.
With no power at the guest house where Kalam was to stay the night, sleeping arrangements were made for him at the nearby Raj Bhavan.
"I had a plan...I went through that. One of the things was I went to all the states and union territories, saw tears - both happy and sad," he said when asked by the media if he had achieved all that he had set out to do as president.
A democratic nation of one billion people like India "needs core competence to give leadership to them, which is a unique thing", he said.
"I want to see self-confidence in every person...especially everyone below the age of 25," he said.
Kalam, who has been succeeded by Pratibha Patil as president, is now a Professor Emeritus at Gandhigram University.
On Thursday morning, hundreds of Kalam fans were also disappointed to find all his speeches and comments gone from their favourite website www.presidentofindia.nic.in. The new dispensation at Rashtrapati Bhavan has placed the website 'under construction'.
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