The Demise of a Philosopher

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A random day in 2003, I was in third standard when I first saw that man over the TV screen and someone told me he is our president.
In coming years, he kept on becoming the topic of our discussion. I can still remember how enthusiastically we talked of him back in 08 about how India fooled US and did the Pokhran scenario and this man was one among them who did it. Fooling US wasn’t an easy job with their polar satellites continuously hovering over the earth, but we did it..back in 98. And we knew he was behind the curtains….managing everything.
And then someday, someone introduced me to the space world…to space agencies…to NASA, ISRO, ESA, Roscosmos…to the dark world beyond earth… and there he was again…pioneering SLV’s for ISRO. He joined ISRO when we had to use bullock carts…literally bullock carts to transfer the payloads and was with ISRO till they started commercial space programs.. from the bullock carted crude ISRO to modern day MOM launcher ISRO, he was again back there….behind the scenes..
And then there was Agni, the missile which DRDO kept developing. I do remember how DRDO and ISRO kept developing the Agni’s variants and kept on increasing the payloads and range. It was always fun to hear….now Islamabad is under Agni’s range, now Beijing is under Agni’s range…now almost the whole Asia’s under Agni’s range…and again I kept dreaming when we will be able to take DC and Pentagon under Agni’s range. Today, thanks to his efforts we have a whole arsenal of Agnis, BrahMos, Shaurya and what not….
All the scientists I knew back then, there were just 2 that were alive ,APJ and Jayant Narlikar.
I kept on dreaming of meeting them one day,somewhere. In his language, he made 83 revolutions around the sun but sun didn’t wanted him to revolve around him anymore…
All the social sites I am connected to are being flooded with messages of his demise, its so sudden….so instantaneous. He was there a while ago and now..he’s just gone.
And everyone would post a RIP with a Namaste sign alongside it and will move on….thats it….end of Kalam. Its been hardly 4 hours since he’s gone and people are back in their lives again. Was he really just this much important? There are no more wings of fire…no more Agni….I was hoping that as soon as Pranab Mukherjee completes his term, maybe the Modi govt will make him President again…but that’s just a dream now….no..its not even a dream…its just nothing….
I envy all those around me who had a chance to meet him…to talk with him…..and I am left with my photos outside gates of ISRO and DRDO headquarters….Someday, when the future generation will ask me whether I had any rendezvous with Dr. Kalam….I will have to bow my eyes to the ground and say no…..
But at least I can boast…..that I was alive with him for 20 long years….nah….for 20 long revolutions of sun…

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