BENGALURU: Y S Rajan, a scientist at MSRIT, lives in ISRO Layout, and used to host former President Abdul Kalam when he came to Bengaluru. He tells City Express what it was like to have the illustrious Kalam as a friend.
In Rajan’s words: A P J Abdul Kalam was friends with me for 50 years. I met him when he was a science research fellow at Vikram Sarabhai Research Centre in Ahmedabad. He was elder to me by 12 years and a half. I was 21 when I met him and he had crossed 33. From the day I met him to the last day of his life, he was supportive of every venture I have undertaken.
In 1998, we wrote a book together. It was called India 2020-A Vision for the New Millennium. It talked about a fully developed India by 2020. It has been 17 years since, and we see a lot of growth and progress, but some problems continue to haunt us.
Later we also came up with another book called Beyond 2020: A Vision for Tomorrow’s India, which talks about what steps the nation needs to take to march ahead. But depressingly, quite a few things haven’t turn out as he had wanted.
I have seen Kalam ceaselessly work for the nation. Every time he went abroad, he would insist I join him. He used to talk all the time about what needed to be done to make our country better. He was busy all the time working for Mission 2020.
Kalam used to call me almost every single day and also talk to my wife once in a month. Every time he was in Bengaluru, he would ask her to prepare his favourite dishes. The last time I spoke to him was on Saturday. We spoke for almost an hour.
I was to travel to Delhi but there is nothing more important than Kalam in my life. I have cancelled my trip and I am going to Rameswaram to see him for the last time.
In the words of Gomathi, Rajan’s wife: Kalamji was kind. He has been friends with our family and my grandchildren used to love it when he was around. He was a vegetarian and loved South Indian food, especially Iyer delicacies. He was fond of potato curry, crisp karela fry, vathakozhambu, and a variety of chutneys. Among sweets, moong dal payasam was his favourite.
Every time he was here, people from all walks would visit our place. He used to spend time with them on our balcony. He once took us to Rashtrapathi Bhavan, and our entire family stayed with him for a couple of days. It was one of the best times we had with him.