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Ignited
Minds’ written by Dr.
APJ Abdul Kalam is a book of hope and determination. Dr Kalam, the ex-president
of India, has been one of the most distinguished Indian scientists. He held
various positions in ISRO, DRDO and became the principal scientific advisor to
the Government of India, after which he took voluntary retirement from his
duties to “achieve something greater for the country”. He has received honorary
doctorates from thirty universities and is a recipient of the Padma Bhushan,
Padma Vibhushan and Bharat Ratna. His previous works include, an autobiography
named Wings of Fire and Vision 2020, a book which sets the vision for India to
grow into a developed country till the year 2020.
Despite all these
honours and accolades, Dr. Kalam has been modest and humble personality, as is
evident from his works and interactions. After being relieved from his duties
with the government of India, he taught as a professor in Anna University for a
while. He realised that the power of India lies in its youth and children and hence
decided to meet children from schools in various parts of the nation and has a
goal of meeting 100,000 students across the country.
The book Ignited
Minds talks about his experience of meeting the numerous students from all over
the country and how during the course of interaction with the people from the
entire nation made him realise the potential of India to be a developed
country. The title of the book is very powerful and entices one to dig the
book. As one goes through the book, with each chapter he feels motivated to
jump to another. The book starts with his dream where he meets the five
greatest beings on earth and how their conversation inspired him to think big
and spread the message to all. Here he also emphasises the need to set up a
goal for the nation and how this goal can help it become not only developed but
also create a globalised platform for the entire world.
He urges everyone
to have a dream and emphasises on the power of dream to be the greatest on
earth. He describes how each one possess magnetic capabilities like that
of earth and hence our reality becomes aligned to what we aspire to be. His
emphasis on the role of parents and teachers in nurturing the younger
generation who are a nation’s true wealth is noteworthy.
In the book, he
also describes his stint with science and technology and the great visionaries
and scientists of India who have a great hand in shaping technological growth.
By their examples, he underlines the need for having a vision and also
structuring a path for the same. This fact not only is important for an
individual but also for the nation. A nation loses the power to be strong
despite its wealth if it lacks vision. He details out the various encounters he
had with the saints and prophets around the country and how spirituality and
science are interrelated. The awe which was created in him after meeting these
great sages and how the mind and body interact to create a vital force has been
delineated. Getting inspired by their thoughts he stressed on the fact that
there is a higher force within us that transcends the limitations of the
physical world and hence we should aspire to realise it.
Reiterating the
need of having a vision throughout his book, he says that India is a country
which stands far below the potential that it has and hence we should exploit
the strength, the energy of the youth and the creativity to achieve a higher
goal coming out of narrow thinking and smaller affairs. He urges every citizen
of our country to enter into a mission mode and by integrating the vast
knowledge and acquiring a happy balance to achieve the mission of turning the
country into a developed nation soon.
Throughout his
book, Dr. Kalam has insisted on the power of imagination and the power of
dream. He further emphasises this point by asking the youth to look for
opportunities in challenges thrown at them and be responsible for their actions
irrespective of the result. The most inspiring lines from the book quoted as
such are, “When something is at stake, the human mind gets ignited.” “Ignite
your minds and think big.” The book is not only an inspiration to think big but
is laden with the feeling of patriotism and urges one to consider nation and
its vision to be bigger than an individual, to reach to the higher self within and
to keep aspirations high because “we are, what we think we are”.
The book is
summarised in the end with a wonderful discussion between two kids in a
mother’s womb named “ego” and “spirit”, which reiterates the fact that we
should look beyond what our eyes can see.
The book is
capable of igniting a fire in the mind of anyone who reads and understands it.
With presenting real life examples and his own experiences, Dr. Kalam has shown
us various facets of life and the country, which makes it more inspirational.
He has already been a role model to many and this book truly makes one picture
him as a true patriot and a man of wisdom. Since he has been a part of
different fields of work, he rightfully describes the need to integrate them
for a greater national cause.
This book is a
must read for anyone who wants to have a peek into the great potential our
country has, the diversity which makes it so rich, the great potential which is
hidden in the various corners of the country and how the realisation of one’s
higher self within us and the faith in our dreams can take us to places. With
real life experiences described in a very simple language, Dr. Kalam has again
done a wonderful job in creating ripples and disturbance in the minds of the
youth which has been dormant for a while now.
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Determine that things can and shall be
done, and then we shall find the way – Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was a great
visionary and he helped transform America from the throes of poverty and
slavery into a young, vibrant and forward looking nation. Our country too is
blessed with one such visionary – Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam.
It is his desire that India be transformed into a developed nation in the not
so distant future. Who can do it? It is us, we Indians, the common man with
uncommon goals.
Dr. Kalam has written this
book with the solitary intention of motivating the minds of the young
generation of India so that we can work together to take our country to greater
and unimagined heights. At the heart of this book is the belief that the people
of this nation have the power, by means of sheer hard work, to realize their
dream of a truly good life.
This book mostly talks about
the interactions that Dr. Kalam had with students and children as he travelled
all across the country. He recounts most of his interactions with fine details
and talks about the questions that were posed to him by the students. You can
find instances of his interactions with children from far-away places, from
Anand in Gujarat to Ranchi in Jharkhand to Tripura, Tamil Nadu and just about
every place in India.
At the beginning of the book
itself, Dr. Kalam makes it clear that he wrote this book with the intention of
igniting the minds of the youth with the hope to see India prosper towards
being a developed nation by 2020. He has specifically chosen to
address the youth because in his distinguished career as a space and defence
scientist he relied on the power and potential of the youth. He chose the youth
and in doing so, he groomed the next generation of scientist who would take the
mantle of being a space scientist from him and people of his generation.
In the course of the nine chapters of this book, you can find many
thought-provoking incidents and instances where Dr. Kalam was left in awe of
the untapped talent and resources of the country. He finds a unique mix of
belief and knowledge that sets us apart from the other nations of the world. He
goes on to say that our talent and potential has gone untapped and that we have
become accustomed to being subjugated and docile.
Various new and age-old ideas
spring up while reading the book. Dr. Kalam talks about creating a knowledge
society. He calls for using our ancient scriptures with the modern scientific
methods to create a new source of knowledge that is useful for the generations
to come. At the same time he lays stress to the things that we must to do
remove illiteracy from our country. He further goes on to talk about patriotism
sans politics and religion. He calls for us to take pride in our achievements
and unite and fight against corruption, factionalism and all elements that
hinder the growth of the country.
He talks at length about the
attitude problems that we often associate with the fact that we are not able to
get work done. The biggest flaw that he sees in the current generation of youth
is the general mindset of limited achievement. Dr. Kalam calls for us to
re-evaluate our goals and aim for a higher path, which will lead us to an
overall development of the country, and it will ultimately benefit the common
man.
Instead of comparing ourselves
to developing nations, we must look how we score against some of the more
developed countries. It will give us a good starting point as to from where we
should start our development process. The book is full of ideas about how we
can grab the best opportunity to develop ourselves as a knowledge society and a
knowledgeable country. Dr. Kalam gives the specific example of the
Information-Technology industry that has flourished and brought valuable
foreign exchange. He goes on to say that while we have made rapid strides in
this field, with software for almost all known IT products and services, we
still use imported hardware devices to run them. Can it be possible for Indian
companies to create globally competitive hardware to go along with the
software? Likewise, he dreams of the day when Indian cars will run on the
streets of Frankfurt, Paris and other western cities.
This is the kind of visionary
that this book is describing to us. I call Dr. Kalam a visionary. He has given
us a vision to take us to the next level of development. Now he looks to us to
follow and his vision and make his dream of a technologically and economically
developed India come true.
This book is written for the
common man. It is a reminder to all of us that a simple man from Rameshwaram
made it to the Rashtrapati Bhavan of New Delhi with his hard work and
dedication. The message is loud and clear – we
must wake up from our slumber and do our bit for the country.
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