Greatness is not by accident.
 Greatness is a quality processed, honed and learnt over a lifetime of learning and hard work. Great human beings are built when a curious mind is met with life changing lessons, often early in the childhood. Just like the nature and quality of a tree is decided by the characteristic of the seed and how it is sown, the worth of a human life is shaped in the early stage of childhood.
Often these life teachings as a growing up child, transform into the values which set the boundaries of one’s adult actions and govern one’s decisions.
We all know Dr. Kalam as an eminent teacher, an excellent President, an exception scientist, a talented rocket scientist, a team man, an institution builder and a man of ethics and integrity. But what went behind the scenes, in the formative days of “Little Kalam” which shaped him slowly but surely into Dr. Kalam – the man we remember and admire.
This books aspires to take you in this early history of childhood of Kalam tracking “Little Kalam” as he begins his first steps into the sands of Rameshwaram – which one day will translate into a march to the Rashtrapati Bhawan.

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Contents

Author’s Note—7

Courage to Give—9

1. Birth of Little Kalam—15

2. Stumbling Feet—17

3. Little Kalam Goes to School—19

4. The Lanka Bridge—21

5. Caring Teacher—23

6. Building the Boat—24

7. Ferry Lessons—26

8. Little Kalam Learns about Flight—29

9. Breaking Barriers—31

10. Little Kalam Dines Again—35

11. The Tempest—37

12. Rebuilding the Boat—40

13. Little Kalam Eats His Mother’s Share—43

14. First Income—47

15. First Real Income—48

16. Delivering Newspapers—51

17. Father’s Divine Connection—53

18. Morning Walks—57

19. How Little Kalam Ate—58

20. The Burnt Chapatti—59

21. Mother’s Sacrifice—61

22. Sound of the Sea—65

23. Plus Points of Newspaper Vending—66

24. Saving the Idol—69

25. A Calamity—71

26. Three Great Hearts Resolve a Problem—75

27. Fancy for Science—77

28. Mother the Homemaker—79

29. Seagull Flies Across the Sun—81

30. Lesson at the Railway Station—83

31. Sister Zohra—84

32. Little Kalam Goes to Town—85

33. Implications of a Gift—87

34. Little Kalam Feels Homesick—89

35. Reading Habit—93

36. The Mentor and the Support—95

37. Little Kalam Goes Vegetarian—97

38. Little Kalam Writes an Essay—99

39. Little Kalam Misses Mother’s Recipes—103

40. Little Kalam Fails—105

41. Little Kalam Decides to Remain Single—109

42. Little Kalam was Spiritual—110

43. Little Kalam Learns Lesson of a Lifetime—112

44. Surprise Honour—113

45. Little Kalam Fails Again—115

46. Little Kalam Owes Success to Teachers—118

47. One from Grown-up Abdul—123

References—126