BENGALURU: India’s most powerful long range missile, Agni, which has remained inaccessible to the common man but was among the favourite projects of late President Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, will form part of the national memorial scheduled for inauguration by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his second death anniversary, July 27, in Rameswaram.
The missile, a museum with personal collections of Dr Kalam, and a library enclosed within a green canopy of 1,000 plants constitute phase-I of the Rs 50 crore memorial in the temple town where the late President spent his formative years. “I thank DRDO for providing a full scale model of Agni missile, an organization which has been very dear to all of us,” says APJMS Nagoor Roja, the late President’s grand niece, adding that Dr Kalam always admired the attributes of fire (Agni) citing the famous Tamil poet Subramania Bharathiyar.
“Fire can burn down impurities of any type (evil forces) so Vappappa (grandfather in Tamil) liked Agni and often called me Agni Kunju (firebrand girl)”, says the lady advocate who received a three-bedroom apartment owned by Dr Kalam in Bengaluru as a gift. She has christened the apartment “Vappappa” and her business card too mentions the same while listing her address. Interestingly, both her parents are related to Dr Kalam. While her late father APJM Shahul Hamid is the son of Dr Kalam's brother APJ Mohamed Muthu Meera Maraikayer, her mother Mrs Mahboob Begum is the daughter of the late President's sister, late APJ Azeem Zohara Ammal. Dr Kalam held late Azeem Zohara Ammal in high esteem for she pledged her gold bangles to fund his education at the Madras Institute of Technology (MIT).
Ms Nagoor Roja, who has been practicing law in Bengaluru for a decade, treasures various books on law which were gifted to her by Dr Kalam along with a foot-long, gold plated Veena instrument, and a Shruthi box used while learning Carnatic music, and anklets. “He used to call me many times but always advised me not to take calls while driving. He was so fond of me that he mentioned me while addressing various gatherings, either as a student, a girl and a young advocate. He told me once that I was very lucky as I was living in the world's best city (Bengaluru),” she reminisced during an interview with Deccan Chronicle.
One of the Trustees of APJ Abdul Kalam International Foundation, she said 112 programmes have been launched since July 21 to encourage and motive students particularly those who are under-privileged.
“We are launching a mobile Science lab, organizing blood donation camps, competitions of different types for school children, and two marathons-from Madurai to Rameswaram and another from Karikkal engineering college to Rameswaram, to mark his second death anniversary,” she added.
Kalam sandesh Vahini flagged off
Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged off the Kalam Sandesh Vahini, an exhibition bus that will travel across various States in India and reach the Rashtrapati Bhavan on Oct. 15, the birth anniversary of former President A. P J Abdul Kalam. The PM who flagged off the vehicle also released the synopsis of the Green Rameswaram project taken up by the Vivekananda Kendra, on the occasion.
Evincing keen interest in the features of the memorial, which has on display replicas of rockets and missiles on which the late scientist had worked, the Prime Minister examined it for about 15 minutes. It has been built at a cost of '15 crore on land allotted by the Tamil Nadu government at Kalam's village Peikarambu. On the occasion, the Prime Minister also unveiled a wooden statue of Kalam playing the 'veena'.
A bronze statue of Kalam has also been erected at the memorial, the entrance of which has been designed in the style of the India Gate in New Delhi. The rear portion of the memorial has been modelled after the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
A model of 'Agni' missile positioned in front of the memorial also drew the attention of PM, who was briefed about the exhibits and portraits by officials.
