Allahabad lad’s date with President Abdul Kalam

ALLAHABAD: It was Udit’s day out with President Kalam during his swearing-in ceremony at the Rashtrapati Bhawan on July 25 which has left an indelible mark in the mind of 16-year-old young scientist.
The afternoon of July 20 came as a bundle of surpirse for Udit, a class 11 student of St. Joseph’s College ,when recieved an invitation from the Rashtrapati Bhawan to attend the swearing-in ceremony of the President and to bid farewell to K R Narayanan and Usha Narayanan,alongwith his father Subodh Kumar, an advocate.
The teenager was eager to congratulate his idol with whom he has an association of little over four years.It was when Pakistan had conducted nuclear tests that the young scientist sent a poser to the Missile Man asking whether or not the direction of missiles fired upon our country could be changed.
‘‘The thought impressed Kalam who sent a detailed reply to Udit appreciating his thinking and asked him to keep in touch’’, recalled Udit’s mother. Eversince Udit has been communicating with President Kalam , she said.
On July 24, the father-son duo reached the BSNL guest house in New Delhi where the guests were scheduled to halt for the day. They met the Union HRD minister M M Joshi in the afternoon, before retiring for the day. ‘‘I could barely sleep in excitement thinking about the next day’’, recalled Udit.
After donning his school dress early in the morning, Udit was ready to witness the swearing-in of Kalam.
‘‘It was a real sight, I tell you....I simply can’t translate the feeling into words’’, said Udit.
‘‘After the ceremony Udit had the chance to meet Kalam and seek his blessings’’, said Kumar.
‘‘Thereafter, we met a host of dignitories including L K Advani, George Fernandes, Lok Sabha Speaker Manohar Joshi, Chairman of ISRO, K Kasturi Rajan. The ISRO chairman also gifted two books to Udit and discussed at length various aspects about planet Mars’’, he informed.
‘‘So overwhelmed was Rajan with Udit’s queries and views that he specifically asked me to ensure that Udit talked to him at least once in a month’’, stated the proud father .
Before leaving , Udit presented a scenery to Kalam which was engraved with a quotation ‘Ram tumhi, Rehman tumhi, Krishna tumhi Raskhan,Geeta Ramayan Mahabharat, Bible tumhi Quran’.
‘‘The manner in which Hon’ble Kalam Sir exhibited his warmth and affection towards the children was exemplary. He is a God for us’’, remarked Udit.