4

Flower
like
the lily w w w . a b d u l k a l a m . c o m

I
would like to address my
young student friends
today. In your student JANUARY 23, 2008 T H E P U L S E O F I N D I A
life you have to acquire the
trait of righteousness in the
heart. In our language we Whatever be the depth of the lake or pond,
call it Dharma. This whatever be the condition of the water,
Righteousness in the heart
is built by parents and the lily comes out and blossoms.
teachers. With righteous in IT’S POSSIBLE
the heart you will develop
and evolve beauty in the

Mera Bharat Mahan

character. The beauty in the
character of a young person
brings harmony to the home
and joy to the parents.
Harmony in the home
spreads to the society and
the nation. Order in the
nation leads to peace in the
world. Righteousness in the
heart of the youth of the
nation finally leads to peace
in the world. Young people
have to develop courage.
The courage to:

Think differently,

To invent,

To travel an unexplored
path,

To discover the impossi-
ble,

To combat problems and
succeed.
Youngsters should also
have a thirst for knowledge.
You can acquire knowledge
from home, good books,
teachers and coming into
contact with good human
beings. When the knowl-
edge acquired is used with
righteousness and courage,
we will have empowered
and enlightened citizens,
who are required for the
growth of the nation.
Friends, India today has a
mission of transforming
itself into a developed
nation with value system.
This is a great challenge.
This can be achieved
through our youth power.
Youth has the power of
ideas, ambition and ability.
If people think big, a
nation becomes great. The
young population of India
any a time we
M have heard our
beloved coun-
try, India, being called a
Third World country.
Most of us just ignore
the statement, or even worse, join
the critics in poking fun at our
Motherland.
There are many jokes passed
through the Internet, making fun
of Indians and India. We take it in
a light-hearted way: After all,
what harm can a joke do? I agree
with you, it is not worth picking a
fight about a silly joke… but do we
realize what in light our country is
portrayed to the world?
Why don't we feel shame at
being called a Third World coun-
try? Because, being brought up in
a country completely alien to
Indian culture and heritage, we
don't realize the seriousness of the
situation.
Sure, we hear of poverty,
droughts, floods, child-marriage
and the rest in the news. We read
about political problems.
And we hear from quite a lot of
people, that the strength of a
nation is its youth. But how many
of us 'youth' even imagine that we
No development
gaps please
Three young Indians share
their anguish over what they
see around them. Why don't we
feel shame at being called a
Third World nation? Doesn't
the poverty and
illiteracy in our villages
disturb us? Why don't we try
to be better than the best?
can contribute to our country in a
meaningful way? How many of us
are even aware of the problems
persecuting our country?
Many of India's youth are either
living abroad, or are too 'small' to
make a difference, being from
low castes or having gone
through some kind of trauma in
their lives. But the worst kind is
those youngsters who don't even
care to think of the well-being of
our country, our Motherland,
which has given us an identity of
nationality.
The reason why we children are
called the health, wealth and
strength of our country, is because
we have the strength, will, capaci-
ty and determination to dream. It
I want prosperous
villages
is universally known that
teenagers are stubborn and deter-
mined… This is a call to all fellow
teens out there: channel this stub-
bornness and determination into a
fire to help our country reach
great heights.
All the children of Mother India,
if you are listening: Dream! Dream
of India achieving a better,
stronger, stabler, more respectable
position in the world. Dream of
India prospering, not only eco-
nomically, but in every true aspect
of the word 'prosper'.
Dream of India as a country free
from the stigma of being 'Third
World'. And dream of India
becoming not a developing, but a
developed country. As Walt
Disney said, "If you can dream it,
you can do it!"
So dream each night of India's
eminent success in the near future,
and aspire each morn towards it.
A plea to every Indian in the
world: Stand up to the
world…say, 'Yes, I am an Indian,
and I am proud to be one!'
—Lakshmi Sudhakaran
Class VIII; Peepal Grove School,
Andhra Pradesh

T
he India of my dreams is a country that

has self-esteem and confi-
dence. The challenge in the
missions of the developed
India calls for an important,
cohesive and focused efforts
of the young. For success in
any mission what we need
is indomitable spirit.
Proverb
Pocket
To bend a bamboo
start when it's a shoot.
— From Malaysia
stands shoulder to shoulder with other
countries that are highly developed. I
don't think that we are a poorly developed
country. We are fine, but we can be better or
the best.
Small things, such as not spitting on the road/pave-
ment or fixing a faulty elevator permanently, can help
improve the impression India would have on visitors.
Being an NRI, I did not have a good first-hand
impression when I stepped into the public gents toilet
at the Chattrapathi Shivaji Airport in Mumbai. The
India of my dreams would also be a place where
hygiene would not be an issue anywhere, and all cities
and areas would be equally developed. The India of
my dreams would not have development gaps
between places. I am not saying that people are not try-
ing. People are trying, but the number of people trying
is less than a quarter of the population. If every Indian
citizen would believe in the saying - "Just One Can
Make a Difference", then the day is not far when every
one of us can hold our heads high in a room full of peo-
ple from all over the world.
__ Shrisha Sethi
8th Grade, New International School of Thailand,
Bangkok, Thailand
T
hough India is called a 'country of
villages', is it true in the real sense?
I feel the answer is an obvious big
NO.
It's not because there are very few vil-
lages, but because the development, the
infrastructural conditions there, are pitiable.
A large part of our population lives in urban
areas, not attracted by the glitz and glamour of
cities but more due to lack of opportunities and
facilities in villages.
The underlying poverty and illiteracy just add
insult to injury.
The prevalent and still-dominant casteism, the
religious disharmony and deep-rooted corruption
add fuel to the fire.
I dream of an India where development is not
only on paper and and in political leaders' election
speeches, but is pursued in the right perspective.
I dream of an India - the country of villages -
where villages become seats of development. If
India is to be a superpower, by no means can we
undermine the importance of villages.
Amar Saurabh
Class XII, Rose Public School, Darbhanga, Bihar

Space, part of our lives now
riharikota: A huge crowd of
S men, women and children is
waiting impatiently outside
the vast space complex for an
important event to take place.
Then the moment arrives. The
countdown hits the zero mark,
and immediately a mighty rocket
blasts off the launch pad. As it
zooms higher and higher, its awe-
some and ear-deafening roar
echoes across the spaceport.
Seconds later, the rocket comes
into sight, travelling in a yellowish
plume of flames, gathering speed
every moment and flying faster
than the speed of sound. Everyone
gathered outside the space com-
plex watches the rocket, with awe
and breaks into an instant
applause, the sound, of course,
being drowned by the thunder of
the vehicle piercing the clear blue
sky over Sriharikota.
As people keep clapping looking
at the flight of the rocket, both out-
side Sriharikota and on their TV
sets all over the country, how
many are aware of the significance
of the space mission? Not many
perhaps. Some may believe that
India is launching rockets carrying
satellites only to impress the popu-
lation, and that these launches are
devoid of any scientific value.
Nothing could be indeed further
from the truth. The main role of the
rocket flight, as is the case with
most space flights, is to bring the
benefits of space technology to
your doorstep and attempt to
improve the quality of your day-
to-day life. The clear message that
a rocket flight conveys is that space

Great minds don't need great positions to
lead a change. This is very well portrayed by
the step of initiating a newspaper that tells us
about the positive people and their great
deeds and instills exuberance and a lot of
positive energy in our sleeping, giant nation.
Our nation just needs a stir, and I feel billion
beats will act as a first step towards waking up
the giant.
- Ankesh Tyagi
I would like to share the following with readers
of billion beats:

Prof.S.Chandrasekhar, the famous Nobel
laureate (1983) in Physics, was a faculty
member at the University of Chicago for near-
ly 60 years. In 1940s when he was based at
the university's Yerkes Observatory, in
Wisconsin, he drove more than 100 miles
round a trip to teach a class of 2 registered
students. Any concern about the cost-effec-
tiveness of such a commitment was erased in
1957, when the entire class - T.D.Lee and
C.N.Yang - won the Nobel Prize in Physics!
- Dr Ambat Vijayakumar
Department of Mathematics, Cochin University
of Science &Technology

It is no use accusing the system or society
for ills. If we take an oath to correct / improve
ourself, there is no doubt that our nation will
be a gem before 2020.
- Sushil Ahuja

India is a blessed country and has got all
the resources that her people need. We,
brothers and sisters, must join hands to
rebuild India and be a model to the world.
There is nothing impossible that a man cannot
billion beats is designed and uplinked to www.abdulkalam.com from Bangalore every fortnight. Chief Editor Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, National Affairs Editor Anantha Krishnan M,
Content Editor V. Ponraj, Copy Curator Vinaya Hegde, Creative DesignV. Jayaprakash, Stills Robert, INSPIRATION The Bold Billion
S U C C E S S U
has now become an indispensable
part of your daily life. In its civilian
role it covers different fields.
In India, currently there are two
types of rockets; the highly-proven
four-stage Polar Satellite Launch
Vehicle (PSLV) which places
remote sensing satellites in orbit,
and the three-stage Geo-
Synchronous Satellite Launch
Vehicle (GSLV), which carries
two-tonne communication satel-
India has about a dozen Insat-series communication
satellites in orbit, and about half-a-dozen remote sens-
ing satellites, making it the largest constellation in the
world. The data from our remote sensing satellites is
used even by powerful space-faring nations like the US.
lites. At present there are about a
dozen Insat-series communication
satellites in orbit. And there are
about half-a-dozen remote sensing
satellites, making it the largest
constellation in the world. The
data from our remote sensing
satellites is used by various
countries, including a powerful
space-faring nation like the US.
What are remote sensing satel-
lites? They mainly help in impor-
tant areas like agriculture, water
resources, forestry and ecology,
coastal management and urban
development. For example, high
resolution maps of Mumbai and
New Delhi have been procured by
the local urban development offi-
cials for city planning purposes.
They carry important details of the
M a i l b a g
do. God has given each one of us calibre,
knowledge and capabilities. Let us utilize our
blessed resources to build a modern India.
- P. Babu Harindranath

In our country, which suffers from life-long
appointed leaders of various political parties,
we regret that the MOST deserving President
could NOT be the PM of the country even
once. Had it been so, then India could have
become super scientific power even by 2015!
May God grant Dr. APJ ...
12 Months of Happiness,
52 Weeks of Good Health,
365 Days of Success,
8,760 Hours of Fun,
52,600 Minutes of Good Luck,
and God's Grace for all 3156000 Seconds in
2008..
- Siddhartha

Inspiration is what one needs to set on a
chain reaction of helping others. I see the
capability of triggering that inspiration, in bil-
lionbeats. I was very moved by the article "I
want a disciplined Nation" by N. Priyanka in
first issue. It will be great if you can include at
least one article which are thoughts of chil-
dren. I am sure this eventually will trigger
other children to think big.
- Rajesh Mudumbi

After daily routine of reading newspapers
in which stardom, cricket and tragedies are
the highlights most of the times, I find it so
refreshed to read billion beats. It is all about
positive energy that flows.
- Nagashankar
N L I M I T E D
cities. In addition they also pro-
vide information about the state of
the environment.
An ISRO official says: "With the
new data, we will be able to make
better decisions about how to sus-
tain and improve life on earth in
the future."
Let us now move on to commu-
nication satellites. TV buffs should
be grateful to these satellites
because without them they would
S PA C E TA L K
By Srinivas Laxman
never have been able to watch their
favourite telecasts! That is not all.
On Sept 20, 2004, space technology
rocketed into the educational sec-
tor in a big way when the India-
made Edusat satellite was placed
in orbit by the powerful GSLV.
Edusat is India's first satellite
dedicated to the field of education.
Thanks to this satellite, schools in
backward areas have been linked
to those in cities. As a result, stu-
dents in backward areas have con-
siderably benefitted by the lessons
which are imparted by teachers in
cities. This has helped to eradicate
illiteracy. Dr.A.P.J.Abdul Kalam
launched a programme which
linked Mumbai, Chennai and
Kolkata universities.
Likewise, space technology has

Children have a great role in shaping the
India of tomorrow. It is that mindset that the
child of today develops that goes forward as
the attitude of the adult of tomorrow. So, it
becomes very essential to hone these minds
very early and instill in them the spirit to
make a better nation.
- Anandh Ramesh

Hope APJ and billion beats will try to
usher in a new India which will be a promis-
ing land for all the people without discrimina-
tion on the basis of caste, creed, religion and
poverty, and deserving merit is given proper
value for jobs and higher education, If need
be economically weaker meritorious candi-
dates shall not be denied opportunity at any
cost. Cost-based and not caste-based should
be our motto. Jai Hind.
- Ratnakumar Iyer

I dream of an India that is very clean but I
actually feel there aren't enough dustbins! All
of us are sensible enough to use a dustbin
instead of roads and streets. Since you can
make the authorities sit up and listen to you,
why can't we just try it as a pilot project in a
city, where we can keep dustbins at an inter-
val of say 200 mt. I am hopeful and confident
of the sensibilities of our people. It surely will
make a difference.
- Adeep Kaur.

Before independence, newspapers were the
means to spread awareness, vision, voices of
leaders, and instill the thought of
Independence. Today once again, history is set
to repeat itself. New Independence is being
ushered in with your e-paper, billion beats.
- Swayambodh Jain
JANUARY 23, 2008
also zoomed into the area of med-
icine with the launch of the
telemedicine project. As with the
educational programme, the
telemedicine project has connect-
ed hospitals in rural areas with
those in cities. This has reduced
the number of people in villages,
travelling to cities for receiving
medical treatment.
These communication satellites
also provide weather forecasts,
and help in search and rescue
operations. The Apollo lunar land-
ing flights went a long way in
improving the maths and science
scores of students in the US and
were also responsible for the
development of a material known
as velcro which you use to stick
something. Space has also encour-
aged the development of new
computer technology.
Space technology is also being
increasingly used for traffic man-
agement in cities through the glob-
al positioning system.
So there you are - look forward
to rocket launches because they
will benefit you a lot. A time may
come in India when a student
need not go to school or college
and his dad and mom need not go
to office to work. They can sit at
home and complete their assign-
ments. Thank space technology for
this.
The writer is a Special Correspondent
with The Times of India, Mumbai
and is the author of the book Dr
Abdul Kalam: Dreams to Reality.
You can reach him at:
moonmission.srinivas@gmail.com

I would like to share a recent experience: I
work in Oman. A few days back, we were trav-
elling from Ahmedabad International Airport to
Saudi Arabia via Dubai. There was a big group
of American Gujaratis waiting for their flight.
Most of them were holding an American pass-
port, meaning that they were already in
America since many years. We believe that
the people in America are highly disciplined,
we expect even the people from that country
to behave in the same manner wherever they
go. To my surprise, two of the members from
this American group left their coffee cups on
the airport lounge floor itself as soon as their
flight was announced. I was sorry that these
people couldn't maintain their discipline when
they came to their motherland. And these
people keep talking of the bad management of
the country, corporation, government, authori-
ties, etc, in India.
I always remember what respected Kalam
Saab asked his audience once: "Will you dare
to spit on the roads of Singapore? Then why
to do so on the roads in our own nation?" Jai
Hind.
- Ketan Lakhani

Congratulations on bringing out billion
beats. This will really make hearts beat faster.
It is a great initiative to showcase dreams of
children/youth of our country, the potential
power of this proud nation.
- Shobhana.

I see a lot of potential in motivating the
youth to join the Armed Forces by publishing
heroic deeds of our valiant men. Kindly do
include these in billion beats.
- Col P. R. C. Rao (Retd)