Perhaps India is the most fortunate in the world to have a President like Kalam. I wish all the political parties could have consensus to have him continue for the second term too, even though that may not be a tradition. Here is what he told while concluding his speech on the eve of republic day of India. I only wish every proud Indian must go through his speech. The government of India must get the whole of the speech printed in all the languages of India and distribute free in all educational institutes.

When the nation marches towards its missions, many challenges will come on the way. Courage is a very important trait for all sections of the society in overcoming these challenges. I would like to narrate one incident. On 8th June 2006, I was in the flight of Su-30-MKI. The captain of the aircraft was Wing Commander Ajay Rathore. The duration of the flight was 40 minutes; I participated in all flight actions. When I landed, there were many youth and media personnel. One young man asked me a question, “Mr. President, please tell me, since you have flown in the supersonic fighter aircraft at the age of 74, were you afraid anytime during the flight.” I told the young man, “All the 40 minutes of the flight, I was busy on the control and the instruments, and experiencing the “g” build up. I was advised by the captain to track the targets and also look at the ground using the synthetic aperture radar. In addition, I was observing the performance of the instruments developed indigenously. I was continuously busy in the flight operations and I didn’t have time to allow the fear to enter into me.” Now, dear young friends who have assembled in front of me and the nation, I have a message of Courage for you.

COURAGE TO GIVE
Courage to think different,

Courage to invent,

Courage to discover the impossible,

Courage to travel into an unexplored path,

Courage to share the knowledge

Courage to remove the pain

Courage to reach the unreached

Courage to combat the problems

And Succeed,

Are the unique qualities of the youth.

As a youth of my nation, I will work and work with courage to achieve success in all my missions.

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A HISTORIC SHIFT- The visible and invisible costs of offending an ascendant India by SWAPAN DASGUPTA