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Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam (15 October 1931 – 27 July 2015) was the 11th President of
India from 2002 to 2007. A career scientist turned reluctant politician,
Kalam was born and raised in Rameswaram , Tamil Nadu and studied
physics and aerospace engineering. He spent the next four decades
as a scientist and science administrator, mainly at the Defence
Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Indian Space
Research Organisation (ISRO) and was intimately involved in India's
civilian space program and military missile development efforts . He
thus came to be known as the Missile Man of India for his work on
the development of ballistic missile and launch vehicle technology.
He also played a pivotal organizational, technical and political role in
India's Pokhran-II nuclear tests in 1998, the first since the original
nuclear test by India in 1974.
Kalam was elected President of India in 2002 with the support of both
the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and the opposition Indian National
Congress . After serving a term of five years, he returned to his civilian
life of education, writing and public service. He was a recipient of
several prestigious awards, including the Bharat Ratna, India's
highest civilian honour.
Death
On 27 July 2015, Kalam travelled to Shillong to deliver a lecture on
"Creating a Livable Planet Earth." at the Indian Institute of Management Shillong. At around 6:35 p.m. IST, only five minutes into his lecture, he collapsed. He was rushed to the nearby Bethany Hospital in a critical condition; upon arrival, he lacked a pulse or any other signs of life. Despite being placed in the intensive care unit , Kalam was confirmed dead of a sudden cardiac arrest at 7:45 p.m IST.
Following his death, Kalam's body was airlifted in an Indian Air Force helicopter from Shillong to Guwahati, from where it was flown to New Delhi on the morning of 28 July in an air force C-130J Hercules. The flight landed at Palam Air Base and was received by the President, the
Prime Minister, Chief Minister of Delhi Arvind Kejriwal , and the three service chiefs of the Indian Armed Forces , who laid wreaths on Kalam's body. His body was then placed on a gun carriage
draped with the Indian flag and taken to his Delhi residence at 10 Rajaji Marg where the public and numerous dignitaries paid homage, including former prime minister Manmohan Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi , Rahul Gandhi , and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister
Akhilesh Yadav .
On the morning of 29 July, Kalam's body, wrapped in the Indian flag, was taken to Palam Air Base, from where it was flown to Madurai in an air force C-130J aircraft, arriving at Madurai Airport that afternoon. His body was received at the airport by the three service chiefs and national and state dignitaries, including cabinet ministers Manohar Parrikar , Venkaiah Naidu, Pon Radhakrishnan ; and the governors of Tamil Nadu and Meghalaya, K Rosaiah and V. Shanmuganathan. After a brief ceremony, Kalam's body was flown in an air force helicopter to the town of Mandapam . From Mandapam, Kalam's body was taken in an army truck to his hometown of Rameswaram, where it was displayed in an open area in front of the
local bus station to allow the public to pay their final respects until 8 p.m. that evening.
