Looking back at the life story of a man who was one of the most influential leaders of India in recent times, we realise something we all know but ignore. He had absolutely no financial backing. His father was not famous in the village. He was in minority and was also not a bright student in his school days. He was just “average” student even in college. He was warned in college that his scholarship would be stopped, eventually ended up doing a job he was not very keen to do, yet he became a top scientist of India. So what was his secret?

We all know that as a President of India he was very humble, down to earth and a simple person. What we do not know that even when he was a president, he was hard working. At all levels in life he worked more than his peers and hence progressed more. As an average student he worked to distribute newspapers and still put in more work in his studies so he could get scholarship. In college he worked hard to get a good job. After he got a job we all know about his involvement in making helicopters, missiles, satellites, nuclear test, etc. Yes he was a genius, probably he always was gifted and the Indian school system couldn’t recognise that. However, more than being a genius he was extremely hardworking. This hard work has made him the leader our country is so proud of.

There is nothing called ‘lazy genius’. I have come across a lot of people who say I am so intelligent that I have to work hard. I am afraid that if you want to be successful in life, you have to work hard, irrespective of your level of intelligence. In fact APJ Abdul Kalam has proved that you can change your level of intelligence by putting your blood and sweat in your work. He was not from an extraordinary school, but the efforts he has put in his building his career and his country are so extraordinary that he has become a leader only on merit.

Hard work teaches you humility. I have had the opportunity to meet him twice and his humility and kindness were something that cannot be taught, only developed. In one of the speeches he mentioned that once he was sure of the project being successful as he and his team had worked very hard for 2 years. There were top people in the team with adequate resources, but it failed. He did not give up on hard work and 6 months later they were successful.

A simple person with absolutely no background has today left this world by creating a reputation which is unparalleled. He has proved that India with her share of one of the largest poor population in the world has the potential of producing the most brilliant scientists of the world.