Indomitable Spirits - By A.P.J. Abdul Kalam

Recently i read this book titled "Indomitable Spirits" written by the former President of India, Mr. A.P.J.Abdul Kalam, better known as the "missile man" of india. So, I decided to share a few of his interesting thoughts on my blog. Many of you may not be able to read his book because of your busy schedules and other problems, so i decided to write its main points for not only my readers but also for myself as i find a lot of things worth remembering in this book.

1) No nation is great or good because parliament enacts this or that but that its men are great or good.

2) Everyone's life is a page in the human history irrespective of the position he/she holds or the work he/she performs.

3) Bhakti is nothing but the devotion we show to the divinity that resides within us.

4) Whenever a mission is in progress, there will always be some problems or failures, but the failures should not become the master of the programme.

5) Transformation is the outcome of a farsighted vision, innovative mind and a guiding spirit.

6) The teacher should teach the students the process of learning and enable them to become lifelong autonomous learners and teach them to continuously practise this trait.

7) Learning needs freedom to think and freedom to imagine and both have to be facilitated by the teacher.

8) "If you have integrity, nothing else matters. If you don't have integrity, nothing else matters."

9)

When learning is purposeful,

creativity blossoms,

When creativity blossoms,

thinking emanates,

When thinking emanates,

knowledge is fully lit,

When knowledge is lit,

economy flourishes.

10) Education is an endless journey through knowledge and enlightenment.

11) A child, a teenager, an adult and a leader - All facing a situation of human need, but each one reacts differently.

The Child asks, "What can you do for me?"

The teenager says, "I want to do it alone."

The young person proclaims, "Let us do it together."

The leader offers, "What can i do for you?"

Education system has a tremendous responsibility to transform a child into a leader.

12) An ignited mind is the most powerful source on the earth, above the earth and under the earth.

13) Knowledge without action is useless and irrelevant. Knowledge with action brings prosperity.

14)

Learning gives creativity,

creativity leads to thinking,

thinking provides knowledge,

knowledge makes your great.

15) With determined efforts, you can always succeed against established beliefs.

16) Information that is static does not grow.

17) "Even if one is made an outcaste in his field, he should continue to work as not because it is his wish but because it is god's will. So never run away from criticism."

18) "The crowning glory of a nation is its people."

19) "A flower generously distributes prefume and honey. It gives to all, freely of its love and, when its work is done, it falls away quietly. Try to be like the flower, unassuming despite all its qualities."

20)

"Where there is righteousness in the heart,

There is beauty in the character.

When there is beauty in the character,

There is harmony in the home.

When there is harmony in the home,

There is order in the nation.

When there is order in the nation,

There is peace in the world."

21) "Always feel the truth, speak the truth and propagate the truth even when your life is at stake."

22) "Gifts accompany poisnous intentions."

23) "Conscience is a great ledger where our offences are booked and registered."

      "Corruption is an assault on the conscience."

Cowardice asks, 'Is it safe?'

Greed asks, 'Is there any gain in it?'

Vanity asks, 'Can i become great?'

Lust asks, 'Is there any pleasure in it?'

But conscience asks, 'is it right?'

24)

"Ulluvathellam uyarvullal matratu

Tallinum tellamai nirttu."

It means: "Think ever of rising higher. Let it be your only thought. Even if your object be not attained, the thought itself will have raised you."

It is a couplet (or kural) in 'Thirukkural' by the poet-saint Thiruvalluvar written 2200 years ago.

25) "A candle loses nothing by lighting another candle."

26) "Dream - Thought - Action philosophy."

"Dream, dream, dream,

Your dreams will transform into thoughts,

The thoughts will result in actions.

And you will succeed."

27) It is not a disgrace to not reach the stars, but it is a disgrace to have no stars to reach for.

28) "Information that is static is of no value."

29) "The three tools of learning are lectures, libraries and laboratories."

30) "The nation is bigger than any individual."

31) "A leader gives the credit for success to those who worked for it and absorbs the failures."

32) "If you aspire to achieve great things in life, you need magnanimity."

33) "Power comes from inside."

34) "For those who do ill to you, the best punishment is returning good to them."

35) The FIRST component of INDOMITABLE SPIRIT is that "There must be a vision leading to higher goals of achievement."

      Whatever may be the depth of the river or the lake or the pond, whatever may be the condition of the water, the lily flower always comes out and blossoms. Similarly, if there is a definite determination to achieve a goal, even against insurmountable problems, you will succeed.

36) The SECOND component of INDOMITABLE SPIRIT is "The ability to overcome all hurdles coming in the way of mission accomplishment."

      A successful leader can never be defeated by problems. He overcomes the problems and becomes master of the situation.

37) Perception of disability and impossibility lies only in the mind.

Time to move on...!!!

Today i might meet my next,
she just sent me a text.
Hopefully it will help me forget my past,
Otherwise that is there forever to last.
She may not have been the best,
but was certainly better then the rest.
She loved me more than i deserved,
and that was the reason for my long beard.
Now that she is finally gone,
i remind myself how lovely she was, to be held on for long...

A few lines about LOVE...

Love- a four letter word,
i never thought would change my world,
I never believed in love,
until u presented a dove.
My life was all normal,
until u made it abnormal.
I had forgotten to laugh,
until you made me laugh.
I never walked for long,
until had u to walk along.
I fail to understand why u left,
and now find difficult to come to my best.
If bad i was,
the worse i have become,
And before the arrival of the worst,
i want to hold onto your trust.
Just as your arrival said LIFE Is Worth Loving,
from ur departure, i understand LIFE Is Worth Living...

Me and she... Damn...!!!

I have always remained adamant,
U r born to stick to ur stand,
Neither i see myself changing,
nor i wud want u to change,
Its been a pleasure to be your man,
but i dnt see myself continuing till the end,
In such a case, i request for a leave,
so that u remain happy after i leave.

My first glance of hers...!!!

It was an evening outside,

when i first saw her by my side,

she was not just like the rest,

but infact, better than the best.

I wondered if she could ever be mine,

in came the reply, u wud be on cloud nine.

I just thot she wud be mine forever,

and found she had gone from there...

Story of three IDIOTS from three different places on a night out that went terribly wrong..!!

The story is of three best friends Rahul, Ravi and Tanya, all from different places that meet at a place for a night out on the eve of Ravi's so-called girlfriend's birthday. Rahul and Tanya have been in a relationship for quiet sometime now. Ravi had come to Rahul's place a day earlier to plan out for a surprise for his so-called girlfriend's birthday. Both had nothing much to do and so they decided to take a trip of more than 150 kms right up in the morning to catch up with tanya and bring her to their place. They reached tanya's place, which is on the countryside and right in the middle of lushgreen fields. She must have enjoyed her childhood in such a place, so close to the nature. Anyways, the three had their lunch at her place and returned back to Rahul's place. It was evening by now.

Now, was the time to start preparing for the surprise for ravi's so-called girlfriend. The three went for shopping but all knew it was only gonna be Tanya who is gonna be buying the gifts because only a girl knows what a girl wants. Starting from a key chain, a card and upto a teddy bear, so much is bought by ravi that a whole new giftshop could be started from all those gifts. But they were all meant for this special girl, claimed in their friend circle as Ravi's girlfriend. Though Ravi had no doubts about this fact and infact, he had told his girl about this several times, but it was the girl who was doubtful about the status of their relationship as she was scared of the future. It was therefore, that ravi himself called her as his "unofficial Girlfriend".

All the gifts were now bought and put up in the car. It was dinner time and the three went to a hotel in the city. The time now strikes 10:30pm and with nothing much to do, the three pass their time in the hotel only, chatting here and there for another hour or so. Rahul had already informed his family that he will be staying at his friend's place. Ravi had told his parents in another city that he will be with rahul and tanya had told her parents that she will be staying with her friend in this city. Eerything was pretty planned. After wishing his girlfriend happy birthday at the stroke of midnight, Ravi and others would wait outside her home for sometime when she would come out of her home, without informing her parents and the four will go on a long drive. All was set for a perfect night out.

But destiny had its own plans. What happened after 12o'clock that night was out of everyone's imagination and the rest that followed, as they say, is now history...

At the stroke of midnight, Ravi with a bouqet of flowers in his hands, coupled with a teddy bear and a few other gifts, stood outside his girlfriend's house, constantly calling her and looking at her door. It was heavily raining and she was not replying. He stood their for around 15 minutes, soaked in rain but there came no response. After a couple of minutes, his phone beeps and he reads the message aloud:
"I CAN'T COME & I DON'T LOVE YOU. PLZ LEAVE. DONT RUIN MY DAY 2DAY."

Rahul and Tanya are in dead shock. They dont know what to say and what to do. Ravi is crying and that's one of the rarest times he cried. He was such a cheerful person throughout his life but this day had broken him. Tanya asked rahul to drive the car to anywhere away from that place. Both had no idea as to what was happening. Finally rahul parked his car at the end of a highway, after a drive of around half-an-hour. Now, it was time to console Ravi. Nobody had uttered a word till now but all knew it was time to speak back and try to know from ravi as to what had happened.

Tanya finally breaks the silence, (Only a girl can break the silence at such points). She starts on in an unconventional manner, never seen before. Nobody could even imagine she was such a mature girl. She says to Ravi that she had seen him for the past six months and she could understand how much he loved her. But she said something that was not expected of her.

She says: "As a girl, Ravi, i understand that the much you love that girl, if you would love any girl, the girl will fall for you and start loving you. But this is different. The girl doesn't love you. She is only using you, more of as a backup. See, a girl wants a boy to love her but at the sametime, she always looks upto him. But in your case, she feels that she can get better than you and takes you for granted. She hardly understands your feelings. She is not the one and you must understand that for the good of both of you. I have been in a relationship for more than an year myself and totally understand how a girl feels in love but this girl is different. She hardly respects your love and feelings. She has not even once taken a step towards you while you have been all over the place for her."

Rahul was in a complete shock looking at his girl Tanya, speaking for minutes without a break. He couldn't understand whether to support her or go against her. She was looking so stunning that rainy night at the roadside, sitting on the bonnet of the car that he could only gaze at her the whole time. Rahul never wanted to let Ravi down in this war of love and had always supported Ravi's love for his girl even though from inside he felt at times that they might not be 'the best' for each other, but Rahul hardly had any other options. He could not see his friend down, no matter what. Finally Rahul speaks up. He tells Ravi that he always wanted to tell him that she is not the girl for him but just couldn't ever say that. He had always supported Ravi's love for his girl as he was himself in for tanya. But now he could no longer hold himself back. He supported Tanya to the core and asked Ravi to move on. Ravi suddenly stands up and goes inside the car. He picks up all those gifts that he had bought for his girl - ranging from earrings and bouqet to the teddy bear - and threw all of them on the roadside. He did not want now any memory of her from now onwards and even deletes her number and throws his phone inside the car. Still unable to totally come to his senses, he finally breaks down and starts crying aloud, shouting to the god that why this was happening to him. He knew nobody had any answers. Rahul and Tanya tried in vain to control and calm him down. They just stayed their on the highway roadside for another half-an-hour looking at each, before finally driving on back to the city. It was a long night and a lot of events were yet to happen before the three could see the light of the day again.

The three reach back the city.

Time is around 2:30am and driving on the deserted road that night, they suddenly saw an accident. Two bikers just hit the back of an auto rickshaw. The two on the bike did not seem to be drunk but the way the accident took place, it was very funny and shocking as well. It was a slow motion accident. The auto-rickshaw had unexpectedly slowed too much before a speed-breaker, which the bikers didnt seem to notice and directly hit on the backside of the auto-rickshaw. That was the only funny thing that happened that night and in a way depicted what was yet to come.

The three were sitting in the car. Rahul had shifted on the backside to be with Tanya while Ravi was left alone on the front seat. After around half an hour, two policemen come on their bike. They enquire the three about their places of residence and what were they doing at that time of the night in a car on the deserted road. After initial hesitations, the three finally start telling the police all the truth. But the police is not in a mood to listen. They just want to talk to the parents of all the three while none of the three is ready for that. Ravi is talking to police all this time trying to convince that they were just returning from the movie and were on their way to home before they decided to stay for sometime. But it was certainly not the case and the policeman understood it. He was not a fool. He said that the place where the three had parked their car was not on their way to home from the theatre. They certainly smelled something wrong even though their was nothing wrong. The two police personnels had till now decided that they would not leave us until they talk to the mother of the girl. They would not listen to any of their arguments. Tanya finally decided that she would make a call to her mother and let her talk to the policemen. And she didnt fake about it. She did call her mother only.

Ravi: "Today after what all happened that night, everyone now says that you could have made anyone your parents at that time and let the policemen talk to them but trust me, at that time, no fake seemed to work for us. It was just one of those days when you realise that today its just not your day and when god has decided to teach you a lesson, be truthful and learn the lesson instead of learning a harder lesson, a little later."

So, Tanya calls her mother and tells her everything. She also makes them talk to the policeman who now had unintentionally been making fun of the situation and mocking at the three. The mother intially is calm and talks to both tanya and the policeman normally. The policemen finally convinced that their was nothing wrong about the three, gave the three a warning and left them. The three were now in a shock and were dumbstruck. There was complete silence. After the policemen left, Tanya calls her mother again and she knows that this time she is for a beating. Mother is furious over Tanya. She knows Rahul also and talks to him also on the phone and scolds him very badly. She even asks rahul to make her talk to his mother when he reaches back home. Everybody now knew that the situation has already flown out of hand and none could do anything to bring it under control apart from apologising.

Tanya is talking to her mother on the phone and crying. Ravi is now just silent sitting besides Rahul. Rahul suddenly feels a lot of pain in his stomach and starts vomiting. Tanya cuts his phone call short and comes running. Ravi and Tanya take Rahul to the nearby hospital. He is treated for food poisoning. The three stay in the hospital for around a couple of hours. Its early morning when the three finally come out of the hospital. There is certainly a lot of tension in the air but all three can be seen somewhat laughing over their last night stint.

Tanya is dropped at her friend's place to move back home. Ravi is also dropped at the station to go back to his city and Rahul is back home. He tells his mother the whole story and makes his mother talk to tanya's mother. He is certainly apologetic and so is his mother for his son's mistake.

After that night, the three never met again. Its been a couple of years since this incident happened. Rahul is now settled into a well earning job today and has never fallen in love since that night.

The story was narrated to the writer by Rahul. The writer has never met Ravi and Tanya but can certainly feel their personalities. The story is a tribute to the three...