Do you have 10 minutes?

Published by uttishthata July 6th, 2007 in APJ Abdul Kalam

The Former President of India, DR. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam's Speech in Hyderabad:

Why is the media here so negative?

Why are we in India so embarrassed to recognize our own strengths, our achievements?

We are such a great nation. We have so many amazing success stories but we refuse to acknowledge them. Why?

We are the first in milk production.

We are number one in Remote sensing satellites.

We are the second largest producer of wheat.

We are the second largest producer of rice.

Look at Dr. Sudarshan , he has transferred the tribal village into a self-sustaining, self-driving unit. There are millions of such achievements but our media is only obsessed in the bad news and failures and disasters.

I was in Tel Aviv once and I was reading the Israeli newspaper. It was the day after a lot of attacks and bombardments and deaths had taken place. The Hamas had struck. But the front page of the newspaper had the picture of a Jewish gentleman who in five years had transformed his desert into an orchid and a granary. It was this inspiring picture that everyone woke up to. The gory details of killings, bombardments, deaths, were inside in the newspaper, buried among other news.

In India we only read about death, sickness, terrorism, crime.. Why are we so NEGATIVE? Another question: Why are we, as a nation so obsessed with foreign things? We want foreign T.Vs, we want foreign shirts. We want foreign technology.

Why this obsession with everything imported. Do we not realize that self-respect comes with self-reliance? I was in Hyderabad giving this lecture, when a 14 year old girl asked me for my autograph. I asked her what her goal in life is. She replied: I want to live in a developed India . For her, you and I will have to build this developed India You must proclaim. India is not an under-developed nation; it is a highly developed nation.

Do you have 10 minutes? Allow me to come back with a vengeance.

Got 10 minutes for your country? If yes, then read; otherwise, choice is yours.

YOU say that our government is inefficient.

YOU say that our laws are too old.

YOU say that the municipality does not pick up the garbage.

YOU say that the phones don't work, the railways are a joke. The airline is the worst in the world, mails never reach their destination. 

YOU say that our country has been fed to the dogs and is the absolute pits.

YOU say, say and say. What do YOU do about it?

Take a person on his way to Singapore . Give him a name - 'YOURS'. Give him a face - 'YOURS'. YOU walk out of the airport and you are at your International best. In Singapore you don't throw cigarette butts on the roads or eat in the stores. YOU are as proud of their Underground links as they are. You pay $5 (approx. Rs. 60) to drive through Orchard Road (equivalent of Mahim Causeway or Pedder Road) between 5 PM and 8 PM. YOU come back to the parking lot to punch your parking ticket if you have over stayed in a restaurant or a shopping mall irrespective of your status identity┘ In Singapore you don't say anything, DO YOU? YOU wouldn't dare to eat in public during Ramadan, in Dubai YOU would not dare to go out without your head covered in Jeddah.

YOU would not dare to buy an employee of the telephone exchange in London at 10 pounds (Rs.650) a month to, 'see to it that my STD and ISD calls are billed to someone else.'YOU would not dare to speed beyond 55 mph (88 km/h) in Washington and then tell the traffic cop, 'Jaanta hai main kaun hoon (Do you know who I am?). I am so and so's son. Take your two bucks and get lost.' YOU wouldn't chuck an empty coconut shell anywhere other than the garbage pail on the beaches in Australia and New Zealand 

Why don't YOU spit Paan on the streets of Tokyo ? Why don't YOU use examination jockeys or buy fake certificates in Boston ??? We are still talking of the same YOU. YOU who can respect and conform to a foreign system in other countries but cannot in your own. You who will throw papers and cigarettes on the road the moment you touch Indian ground. If you can be an involved and appreciative citizen in an alien country, why cannot you be the same here in India ?

Once in an interview, the famous Ex-municipal commissioner of Bombay , Mr. Tinaikar, had a point to make. 'Rich people's dogs are walked on the streets to leave their affluent droppings all over the place,' he said. 'And then the same people turn around to criticize and blame the authorities for inefficiency and dirty pavements. What do they expect the officers to do? Go down with a broom every time their dog feels the pressure in his bowels?

In America every dog owner has to clean up after his pet has done the job. Same in Japan .

Will the Indian citizen do that here?' He's right. We go to the polls to choose a government and after that forfeit all responsibility.

We sit back wanting to be pampered and expect the government to do everything for us whilst our contribution is totally negative. We expect the government to clean up but we are not going to stop chucking garbage all over the place nor are we going to stop to pick a up a stray piece of paper and throw it in the bin. We expect the railways to provide clean bathrooms but we are not going to learn the proper use of bathrooms.

We want Indian Airlines and Air India to provide the best of food and toiletries but we are not going to stop pilfering at the least opportunity.

This applies even to the staff who is known not to pass on the service to the public.

When it comes to burning social issues like those related to women, dowry, girl child! and others, we make loud drawing room protestations and continue to do the reverse at home. Our excuse? 'It's the whole system which has to change, how will it matter if I alone forego my sons' rights to a dowry.' So who's going to change the system?

What does a system consist of? Very conveniently for us it consists of our neighbours, other households, other cities, other communities and the government.. But definitely not me and YOU. When it comes to us actually making a positive contribution to the system we lock ourselves along with our families into a safe cocoon and look into the distance at countries far away and wait for a Mr.Clean to come along & work miracles for us with a majestic sweep of his hand or we leave the country and run away.

Like lazy cowards hounded by our fears we run to America to bask in their glory and praise their system. When New York becomes insecure we run to England When England experiences unemployment, we take the next flight out to the Gulf. When the Gulf is war struck, we demand to be rescued and brought home by the Indian government. Everybody is out to abuse and rape the country. Nobody thinks of feeding the system. Our conscience is mortgaged to money.

Dear Indians, The article is highly thought inductive, calls for a great deal of introspection and pricks one's conscience too┘. I am echoing J. F. Kennedy's words to his fellow Americans to relate to Indians┘..

'ASK WHAT WE CAN DO FOR INDIA AND DO WHAT HAS TO BE DONE TO MAKE INDIA WHAT AMERICA AND OTHER WESTERN COUNTRIES ARE TODAY'

Lets do what India needs from us.

Thank you,

Dr. Abdul Kalam

Salute To DADA

Salute to DADA

Sourav Ganguly. Dada. God of Offside. Prince of Culcutta. Bengal Tiger. And there is a lot more.

Lot of People says Sachin as God Of cricket. Yes, he is a real maestro. But for me Dada is the GOD of Cricket. The man who changed the way how Indians played cricket. He came to Indian cricket team, in 1996. He would have been in the team long before, if he had a God Father. He came in the middle of lot of opposition from the media. Every body criticized dada and BCCI for taking him into team. But he soon proved that he is the One who deserves to be in the team more than any one else. Soon after 1999 world cup Azharudin quit as Indian team captain. Sachin took over. The worst time of Indian Cricket. Team was swaying in the Match-fixing scandal. Azharudin and Jadeja, who could have brcame Indian team captain where included in the scandal and they where send off the team. And then Sachin Quit as team captain. As he could not concentrate on his batting.

At this situation Dada took the post of Captain. Indian Team. Until then it was known as Tigers at home and Rats at foreign soil. There are lots of match winners. Who could single handedly take team to victory like sachin, dravid, kumble n dada himself. But it lacked a unit as team. With dada’s pressure on BCCI Team India got its 1^st Non-Indian coach, John Wright. Then there was no looking back. Series wins at Pakisthan, England West Indies. He gave opportunities to youngsters. Zaheer, Pathan, Bhaji, Yuvi, Shewag. All where his findings. How can one forget the Series victory of India against Australia in 2001. They lost their 1^st match. In the 2^nd they where having follow on. Lakshman brought India back to track. India got lead. But something un thinkable happened on the last day. Dada declared and asked to Ausies to bat. He took the risk. And that paid. A marvelous victory with the help of Bhaji. He kept the faith Dada had on him.

With that there was no looking back. The series victory in England. How can any one forget that. When Dada took off his shirt and waved in Ovals. Finding of that series, Yuvraj and Kaif. India proved it can win as a team. Without the help of Sachin. Indian Team grew from Sachin. It became ‘Team India’. And Dada lead us to 2003 World cup final. After a long 20 years wait it was in World Cup final.

The down fall of Dada started when he had a spat with the new Indian coach Chappel. Dravid took over as captain. Soon it was proved that BCCI had taken a wrong decision. It lost the world cup. It didn’t even reached the Super Sixes. The media which had not left any stone turned against Dada now said Team India lacked some thing. It doesn’t have the spirit any more. I say it Lacked Dada. Anyway it was for good of the team. There was a new breed of players. The young angry Indians. The people who can do miracles in split seconds. Dhoni, Ishanth, Raina, Gambhir, RP singh, Munaf Patel etc. They brought home T20 world cup. Soon Dravid quit as captain and something un-thinkable happened. Dhoni was made captain.

Now back to Dada. He was back in team. His best ever come back. He had the best averages. But stil they threw him out. And finally he was taken for Ind-Ausies series. And he announced his retirement after the series. He burst out against the selectors. He said, he doesn’t have to prove any more. He had proved more than enough. And what marvelous Last series he had. It saw the worst lose by Australia. He hit a cent. And on the final day of fourth test he was made captain for the final overs. Thanks to Dhoni.

After the match Dada said, I’m happy that Team India is in safe hands now. Dhoni has the same spirit that Dada once had. And so the most successful captain that India had, The Best Captain Retires with all his pride. The man who gave us victories to a country of a billion, who had a religion called Cricket. Then man who proved we are not any other team. We are team Inida. The man who asked our batsmen to stare back at bowlers, who try to intimidate them, showed the world that Indian team can be tough and rough. They won’t go back when you tease them. They will strike back as never before. Thank you Dada, Thank you.

I Salute you Dada

Full name: Sourav Chandidas Ganguly

Nickname Dada, Prince of Kolkata, Bengal Tiger, Maharaja

Born 8 July 1972 (1972-07-08) (age 36) Calcutta, Bengal, India

Height 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)

Batting style Left-handed

Bowling style Right arm medium

Role Batsman

Test debut (cap 207) 20 June 1996: v England

Last Test 6 November 2008: v Australia

ODI debut (cap 84) 11 January 1992: v West Indies

Last ODI 15 November 2007: v Pakistan

Domestic team information

Years Team 1989/90–2006/07 Bengal 2000 Lancashire 2005 Glamorgan 2006 Northamptonshire 2008–present Kolkata Knight Riders

Career statistics

Tests ODI FC List A

Matches 113 311 241 423

Runs scored 7,212 11,363 14,864 15,161

Batting average 42.17 41.02 43.84 41.53

100s/50s 16/35 22/72 31/84 31/93

Top score 239 183 239 183

Balls bowled 3,117 4,561 10,920 7,949

Wickets 32 100 164 168

Bowling avr 52.53 38.49 36.66 38.41

5 wickets in inn. 0 2 4 2

Best bowling 3/28 5/16 6/46 5/16

Catches 71 100 166 129

*Details from Wikipedia

My First Lie

I was sitting in my bench. That was a free period, almost free. I was in 3rd to last bench. She was calling students 1 by 1 and asking something and taking notes of the answers. She had ordered not to talk and leader was standing there to write names of those who are talking. When she is done with her work, she will call out the names and those students will be punished with cane. The leader will write the names of all those she don't like. So everybody is trying to 'soap' her.

I really don’t like our new leader. Last leader was my friend. He comes 1st in the class. We enjoyed a lot on his leadership tenure. But this month she was made leader. When Ajith(my friend)was the leader, he had once written her name and she got beats from the teacher. It was for the first time she was getting punished. From then onwards she considered Ajith and his friends as enemies. The very 1st period she was given the chance to write the names, she wrote our names and that too just for turning around. And I wasn't even moving my lips. Ajith turned and looked at me and for that we were punished. From then on I considered her as my enemy.

So this period I thought, let me keep silent. If I move she may catch. So I kept on looking outside through the window. I was thinking, next month may be teacher will make Ajith leader again or Anoop. Anoop is not close to me as Ajith is, but still he is a good friend of mine. But he is also good friend of her. So I thought from now on I would try to be more friendly with Anoop. Should also ask Ajith to do the same.

As I was looking outside I saw KG students playing. They always had their last period as PT and they can go by 3:30. Any way we, 4th A students, are little lucky. We had a separate entrance and ours where the biggest class. Our class strength is 76. All others class has to go out through the main entrance and has to wait until their class's turn comes to leave .4th B and 5th students has to wait almost for 15mins to get out after the final bell rings.

My thoughts where going like this, all of a sudden I heard someone calling my name. It was the teacher. Initially I got little afraid, thought she may have noticed me looking out of the class. Then I realized she called me, as my number has come. I went to her and stood beside her table. She had started to write my names on another paper slowly and neatly. It was some kind of a form. Casually I looked at the first bench in front of which leader was standing. There sits Seshma. She is leader’s friend. I disliked her too. I really don’t have any personal fight with her. It’s not only because she was leaders friend, but her surname is the same as mine. So my friends used to tease me, pairing with her.

All of a sudden teacher asked something. I said 'em?’

Teacher: What r u dreaming? What’s your Father's name?
I:K. Krishnan.
She then wrote that in the form.
Teacher: Mothers name?
I: Usha.
She wrote that too.
Teacher: Father's occupation?

I didn't say anything. I was thinking what my dad's occupation was? What is he doing? I have never thought of it? I even don't remember my Dads face, then how can I know his job? If he was at home, I could have asked him. But… Only thing I know about my Dad is that he is at bangalore.

Teacher: I asked what your father’s job is?
I: I Don’t know.
Teacher (with a surprised face): What?
I (With a little hesitation): I… don’t…know.
Teacher: You don’t know what your father’s occupation is? What kind of a child you are?

Teacher said that in a little high voice. Now all the class is looking at us, eager to know what is happening, especially my enemies. I felt like they had a devilish smile in their face. I stood still with my heads down.

Teacher (Pointing at the KG students playing outside): Go and ask them, they will tell what their father is doing. You are studying in 4th standard, ad you don’t know this? What kind of a child you are?

Teacher was having a pity laugh. With this, laughter broke out in the class. Now whole of the class is laughing at me. I thought how can those KG students tell what their father’s job? Most of them even can’t tell their name correctly. Now I hated those children playing there. I hated my enemies more, as they where enjoying my humiliation. I hated my class teacher too. Why should she ask such a question? If she had to ask, she could have asked in a low voice. Why she had to make such a comment? And that too out loud? Is that a big crime, not knowing what one’s father’s job is?

Teacher: (To the class) Silence!! (Turning to me) Tomorrow when you come, you should tell me what your father’s occupation is. Now go to your seat.

I walked back to my seat. I could see my classmates having a smile at me. I held my head down. I sat in my seat. I smiled at my friends. To avoid any more questions I pretended like arranging my books and then like searching something, looking inside my books and inside my box. Now most of the KG students had left. I thought, I should ask my Mom today, what my dad is doing. But how?

When ever I had asked anything about my Dad to My mom, she starts crying. She used to tell us stories of a dog that was at her neighbor’s house when she was at bangalore. That’s how I know my Dad is at bangalore. I had once heard my Granny saying to some visitors at home, that my Mom had divorced my Dad. I really have never understood what this ‘Divorce’ is? I had heard her say that, my dad said, he would give compensation to my mom till me n my brother are 15yrs of age. After that he would take us. But my Mom didn’t accept that and said, she don’t need compensation. I had never understood why they had to fight over us?

Suddenly bell rang. And I stuffed my things in my bag and was running out of the class. I wanted to avoid questions of my friends. I went to the front of school, at waited for my brother. I was praying, that my friends don’t see me. When I saw my brother coming out, I got a great relief. When walking back to my home I didn’t tell my brother about the happenings in my class. I reached my home. Went out to play with my friends and brother and returned by 6. Did my prayers. And did my home work. After that I went to my granny.

I asked her: What is my dad’s occupation? Teacher asked today. I have to tell it tomorrow.
Granny: Go and ask your Mom.

I was worried to ask about it to my mom. Anyway I gathered courage and asked my Mom.
I: Amma, what is my father’s occupation.

I felt like she was in a bad mood. She didn’t tell anything.
I repeated: What’s my father’s occupation? My class teacher asked today. I have to tell her that tomorrow.
With that she broke out into tears. I felt very bad. Look I had made my Mom cry. I never had missed my Dad so much. Hoped he was here so that I could have asked him directly. My mom wouldn’t have cried. Now to whom can I ask? Now what will I tell my teacher when she asks tomorrow?

I was very much disturbed by that thought. I couldn’t sleep well, because, the thought getting humiliated again was annoying me. Next day on my way to school I asked my brother: What’s our father’s occupation?
He: I don’t know?
I: Haven’t your class teacher asked this to you?
Brother: Yes, she has asked.
I: Then what you told her?
Brother: I said, he is a teacher.

I didn’t ask him anything more. I know that it is a Lie. How can my brother lie and that too to his class teacher? I reached my class. Everything was fine there. I went my seat and arranged my first two periods books and text books in my desk. First period was taken by my class teacher. I felt like I had swallowed a fire ball. Now what should I tell her, when she asks that question. Should I tell her that, my Mom didn’t tell me? Just then the bell rang. It was assembly time. And this time assembly I not held in the ground. Every class has to gather in the verandah. As our class had no verandah, we can stand in our class itself. Our class teacher came. We said the prayers and then our school leader read out some news from the news paper. Then we said our pledge and the we sang “Jana Gana Mana”. Assembly is over. I thought why should I wait for my teacher to ask my? I will directly go to her and tell her. I went to her.

Teacher: What is it Vipin?
I: My fathers occupation.
Teacher: Ok. Wait.
She took out the forms in which she was writing the details yesterday. She is searching for the form with my name. I had planned to tell her that I don’t know. And my Mother didn’t tell.

Teacher: Ok, tell me?

I: Teacher.

Teacher: What?
I: He is a school teacher in Bangalore.

Teacher looked at me with a little surprised face and wrote that in the form.