Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

The Missile Man of India: Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam

Greats are not born every day; they are born once in a century and are remembered for millennials to come. One such great, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, was born in Rameswaram of Madras Presidency on 15th October 1931 to a poor Tamil Muslim family. He lived with his family in the temple city of Tamilnadu, Rameswaram, where his father, Jainulabdeen, had a boat and was an imam of a local mosque. At the same time, his mother, Ashiamma, was a housewife. Kalam had four brothers and one sister in his family, from which he was the youngest. Kalam's ancestors were wealthy traders and landowners and had vast land and property tracts. But with time, their business of ferrying pilgrims and trading groceries suffered huge losses due to the Pamban Bridge's opening. As a result, Kalam's family had become inadequate and struggled hard to make a living. At a tender age, Kalam had to sell newspapers to supplement his family income.