On his 6th death anniversary, scrap turned into bust of Missile Man
On the sixth death anniversary of Dr Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen (APJ) Abdul Kalam, popularly known as the Missile Man of India on July 27, the pictures of his 7.8-foot-high bust installed by the Railways' South Western Railway (SWR) zone at the Yesvantpur Coaching Depot on social media platforms have captured the attention of netizens.
The 800-kg heavy structure is made of scrap substances such as bolts, nuts, wire ropes, soap containers and damper pieces. The depot, located near the Tumakuru side of the station, maintains an average of 200 coaches on a daily basis, including the new Vistadome coaches and those of Duronto and Sampark Kranti trains.
Also read: 132 days on, India reports under 30,000 new Covid-19 cases
Senior coaching depot officer of Yesvantpur Vikas Gurwani said the Missile Man was an inspiration for all engineers. “Our in-house team led by section engineers CP Sridhar and Srinivas Raju created this structure from scrap materials. We spent only around Rs 3,000 on painting work," he was quoted as saying.
In 2002, India's ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) put forward Dr Kalam to succeed outgoing President Kocheril Raman Narayanan. Kalam was nominated by Hindu nationalist NDA even though he was Muslim
Kalam was a passionate writer, having published 18 books, four songs and 22 poems books in his lifetime. He has been the recipient of honorary doctorates from 40 universities around the world.
His autobiography, Wings of Fire, co-authored with Arun Tiwari has been translated into 13 languages including Chinese and French.
His dream was becoming a fighter pilot for the Indian Air Force, but he could not realise it because there were eight openings and he was the ninth candidate.
He never owned a television. His possessions included books, a veena, some articles of clothing, a CD player, and a laptop. He was an avid reader of books on cosmology.
-PTC News
