Question

What do you know about A.P.J Abdul Kalam’s family after reading the lesson ‘My Childhood’?

Answer 1

Hint: The context of the above question is given in the chapter “ My childhood”. This chapter has been picked from the autobiography of A.P.J Abdul Kalam, “Wings of fire”. Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, a visionary scientist who rose from humble beginnings to become India's President, wrote an autobiography called "Wings of Fire."

Complete answer:
He belonged to a middle-class family. They lived in the island town of Rameshwaram, Madras. They lived in their ancestral house which was as old as the 19th century. He lived with his parents and 4 siblings of which 3 were brothers and 1 sister. His father was neither a well-read nor a wealthy man. Yet, his father was very wise and generous in nature. His family would often serve food to the outsiders whose number would outweigh the number of their own family members. His father did not crave to live a life of luxuries and comfort. His mother, as he remarks, was an ideal helpmate of his father. Kalam lists various values that he derived from his parents. He says he got his self-discipline and honesty from his father while faith in goodness and kindness from his mother.

He had a brother in law who would tell him about the developments related to the second world war and a cousin Samsuddin who helped him earn his first wage through the distribution of newspapers. He had 3 close friends who were Ramanadha Sastry, Aravindan and Sivaprakasan. Despite his friends belonging to orthodox Hindu families, they never discriminated against each other. His family would arrange boats for carrying the idols of Lord Rama from the temple to the marriage site on the special occasion of the Shri Sita Rama Kalyanam ceremony.

From the description given in the chapter, we can conclude that the parents of A.P.J Abdul Kalam were of ‘true Indian Values’. They did not discriminate on the basis of social, religious or any other differences existing in the society and neither taught their children to do so. They weren’t very rich but had their share of satisfaction and loved to dedicate themselves in the service of others. They had high moral values and lived a life of simplicity.

Note: A.P.J Abdul Kalam’s full name was Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam. He was the 11th president of India. He did not belong to a very well-off family but that didn’t stop him from achieving his dreams. He became an aerospace scientist and conducted several successful experiments for India, wrote books and bagged famous titles for himself.