As India’s 11th President, A.P.J Abdul Kalam led an active public life and came to be known as the People’s President. In this Idea Exchange moderated by Resident Editor Seema Chishti, Kalam speaks about his ideas, his vision for the country and the youth:

•Coomi Kapoor: Which of the former presidents were you most inspired by?

I believe every President before me contributed something in their respective fields -- some in politics, some in education and others in social activities. I was going through some papers at Rashtrapati Bhawan and I found a letter our first president, Rajendra Prasad, wrote to Nobel laureate Sir CV Raman in 1954, asking him to come to Rashtrapati Bhawan to accept the Bharat Ratna. Anyone would have jumped at the offer. Then I saw Sir CV Raman’s reply to President Prasad’s invitation. It said, “Dear Mr President, I thank you for giving me such a great honour, but I have a problem. I am guiding a scholar and he is submitting his thesis in December-January. I have to sign the thesis and won’t be able to accept the invitation.” The message here is that for Sir CV Raman, his student’s research meant more than anything else. The Bharat Ratna, of course, was awarded to Dr Raman in absentia.

Rajendra Prasad is one of our great Presidents, so iss S. Radhakrishnan, Zakir Hussain and there are a number of other Presidents too.

•Dhiraj Nayyar: One of your passions is the youth of this country. But is there any reason to assume that the youth is any different from the older generation? So what make you optimistic about the youth?

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