APJ Abdul Kalam - What a Leader!

There are so many resons for me to be proud of being an Indian. One of them is to have a leader like Dr APJ Kalam. He is the perfect example of how a leader should be. His vision, goals and thoughts are so motivating. He always makes sure he is not a politician, but one among us.

Some lines from his famous speech in Hyderabad.

Dr. APJ Abdul Kalaam's speech in Hyderabad
"I have three visions for India. In 3000 years of our history, people from all over the world have come and invaded us, captured our lands, conquered our minds. From Alexander onwards, The Greeks, the Turks, the Moguls, the Portuguese, the British, the French, the Dutch, all of them came and looted us, took over what was ours. Yet we have not done this to any other nation. We have not conquered anyone. We have not grabbed their land, their culture, their history and Tried to enforce our way of life on them. Why? Because we respect the freedom of others.

That is why my first vision is that of FREEDOM. I believe that India got its first vision of this in 1857, when we started the war of Independence. It is this freedom that we must protect and nurture and build on. If we are not free, no one will respect us.
My second vision for India's DEVELOPMENT, For fifty years we have been A developing nation. It is time we see ourselves as a developed nation. We are among top 5 nations of the world in terms of GDP. We have 10 percent growth rate in most areas. Our poverty levels are falling. Our achievements are being globally recognized today. Yet we lack the self-confidence to see ourselves as a developed nation, self-reliant and self-assured. Isn't this incorrect?

I have a THIRD vision. India must stand up to the world. Because I believe that, unless India stands up to the world, no one will respect us. Only strength respects strength. We must be strong not only as a military power but also as an economic power. Both must go hand-in-hand. My good fortune was to have worked with three great minds. Dr. Vikram Sarabhai of the Dept. of space, Professor Satish Dhawan, who succeeded him and Dr.Brahm Prakash, father of nuclear material. I was lucky to have worked with all three of them closely and consider this the great opportunity of my life.I see four milestones in my career:

For the full speech please click here.

It is worth reading many times.

Salutations to our best ever Indian President. We will make your dreams come true because we too are having the same dream. And as you said, You have to dream before your dreams can come true.

Jai hind!!!

European Grandprix 2007.

The European grandprix last sunday was a dramatic event, with so many incidents happening all around the track, during the entire span of the race.
Some of the action and trauma:

1. Hamilton crashes in qualifiers.
2. Raikonen's Ferrari crawls to a halt in a stage where he was driving great.
3. Markus Winkelhock making his debut for Spyker-Ferrari had the wet tyres before the start of the race and during the rain time when everyone were in pits to change tyres, this guy was leading the race for almost 2 laps, until the safety cars arrived. What a momemt for a spyker driver making his debut and still manages to lead the race for 2 laps.
4. Kimi going into pits to change wet tyres, but suddenly comes out and continues the race. He was actually was giving way for Massa to change tyres as they were very close to each other. Kimi would have wasted nearly 5-6 seconds in that.
5. A series of clashes, and the only person to slightly escape was Hamilton during rain.
6. The best moment came in the last 10 laps when the rain God made it clear to the Ferrari team they are not going to win. Fernando Alonso was nearly 6 seconds behind Massa, but overtook him after a heart-pounding chase. What a great sight it was. To provide you with the same pleasure, here is the video of Alonso overtaking Massa.





7. After the race Massa had lots to talk about Alonso, obviously he felt it was unacceptable for Alonso to overtake him so closely. but as far as Alonso was concerned, he had it. Fernando Alonso, The European Grand Prix Winner.

Goran Ivanisevic...

I like watching international Tennis mathces very much. Tennis is a great sport which encapsulates a person's capability to show aggression and to stay cool. And whenever I think of Tennis, the first name that comes to my mind is Goran Ivanisevic ( why not Federer? ;-) ). I am a die hard fan of Ivanisevic, right from the day I started watching Tennis.

His 2001 Winbledon campaign was too memorable. Anybody in this world who knows about tennis will know this guy, for his great serves. He has a great service and I have seen many matches where he has taken a game with four aces in a row. Goran, along with his serve is a masterpeice, though his game is not extraordinary. He is very active on-court and does lots of things that people usually do off-court.Here is a sample video of what happened in a match between Goran and Rafter.