The eternally inspiring 11th president of India

Whenever I think about a role model, I have only one person who comes to mind - and it’s none other than the 11th President of India, Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. He is my inspiration; my role model. It’s because of his inspiring words and the lessons I learnt from the way he lived his life that I became capable of achieving many things in my life thus far.

It was my dream to meet him, but, unfortunately, before life could give me that chance, Dr Kalam passed away.

There are a lot of reasons why I consider him my role model:

1 His statement that, “F.A.I.L. means first attempt in learning” is a wonderful guiding light. We students face a lot of issues in our daily life, particularly in school. Some of the challenges are quite tough, but these words of Dr Kalam have helped me overcome many challenges. Two years back, I, along with my best friend, wrote an exam, but we couldn’t pass it. Without losing hope, we strived harder and last year, both of us cleared the exam. I consider this as a great achievement. It was an exam written by 1,500 students all over the GCC and we were among the top 14 students.

2 Dr Kalam once said, “Dream, dream, dream, dreams come true, dreams transform into thoughts and thoughts into actions.”

This is a favourite quote of mine. This made me dream … dream high. And finally helped me achieve my target.

3 The story of Dr Kalam’s life is so inspiring. Though he was born and brought up in a poor family, his achievements inspire millions worldwide.

4 Dr Kalam always led a simple and modest life. 5 Dr Kalam called students of every age his ‘FRIEND’. Though he is no more, his words will live forever.