అబ్దుల్ కలాం ప్రసంగం

నా మెయిల్ కి ఈరోజు ఫణికుమార్ అనే మిత్రుని నుండి ఓ ఫార్వార్డెడ్ మెసేజ్ వచ్చింది. ఎంతోకాలంగా నా మనసులో పేరుకుపోయిన ప్రశ్నలను కలాం ప్రసంగం సూటిగా వేలెత్తి చూపిన వైనం నా మనసుని ఆకట్టుకుంది. అందుకే అది టెక్నికల్ అంశం కాకపోయినా ఈ సాంకేతికాలు బ్లాగులో పోస్టు చేయడానికి నిశ్చయించుకున్నాను. దాని సారాంశం ఇది.

Please read this article by sparing 10 minutes from your busy life. Its
about us, after all...

The President of India DR. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam 's Speech in Hyderabad
..

Why is the media here so negative?
Why are we in India so embarrassed to recognize our own strengths, our
achievements? We are such a great nation. We have so many amazing
success stories but we refuse to acknowledge them. Why?
We are the first in milk production.
We are number one in Remote sensing satellites.
We are the second largest producer of wheat.
We are the second largest producer of rice.
Look at Dr. Sudarshan , he has transferred the tribal village into a
self-sustaining, self-driving unit. There are millions of such
achievements but our media is only obsessed in the bad news and failures
and disasters. I was in Tel Aviv once and I was reading the Israeli
newspaper. It was the day after a lot of attacks and bombardments and
deaths had taken place. The Hamas had struck. But the front page of the
newspaper had the picture of a Jewish gentleman who in five years had
transformed his desert into an orchid and a granary. It was this
inspiring picture that everyone woke up to. The gory details of
killings, bombardments, deaths, were inside in the newspaper, buried
among other news.

In India we only read about death, sickness, terrorism, crime. Why are
we so NEGATIVE? Another question: Why are we, as a nation so obsessed
with foreign things? We want foreign T. Vs, we want foreign shirts. We
want foreign technology.

Why this obsession with everything imported. Do we not realize that
self-respect comes with self-reliance? I was in Hyderabad giving this
lecture, when a 14 year old girl asked me for my autograph. I asked her
what her goal in life is. She replied: I want to live in a developed
India .. For her, you and I will have to build this developed India ..
You must proclaim. India is not an under-developed nation; it is a
highly developed nation. Do you have 10 minutes? Allow me to come back
with a vengeance.

Got 10 minutes for your country? If yes, then read; otherwise, choice is
yours.
YOU say that our government is inefficient.
YOU say that our laws are too old.
YOU say that the municipality does not pick up the garbage.
YOU say that the phones don't work, the railways are a joke,
The airline is the worst in the world, mails never reach their
destination.
YOU say that our country has been fed to the dogs and is the absolute
pits.

YOU say, say and say. What do YOU do about it?
Take a person on his way to Singapore .. Give him a name - YOURS. Give
him a face - YOURS. YOU walk out of the airport and you are at your
International best. In Singapore you don't throw cigarette butts on the
roads or eat in the stores. YOU are as proud of their Underground links
as they are. You pay $5 (approx. Rs. 60) to drive through Orchard Road
(equivalent of Mahim Causeway or Pedder Road) between 5 PM and 8 PM. YOU
come back to the parking lot to punch your parking ticket if you have
over stayed in a restaurant or a shopping mall irrespective of your
status identity... In Singapore you don't say anything, DO YOU? YOU
wouldn't dare to eat in public during Ramadan, in Dubai . YOU would not
dare to go out without your head covered in Jeddah. YOU would not dare
to buy an employee of the telephone exchange in London at 10 pounds (
Rs.650) a month to, 'see to it that my STD and ISD calls are billed to
someone else.'YOU would not dare to speed beyond 55 mph (88 km/h) in
Washington and then tell the traffic cop,
'Jaanta hai main kaun hoon (Do you know who I am?). I am so and so's
son.
Take your two bucks and get lost.' YOU wouldn't chuck an empty coconut
shell anywhere other than the garbage pail on the beaches in Australia
and New Zealand .
Why don't YOU spit Paan on the streets of Tokyo ? Why don't YOU use
examination jockeys or buy fake certificates in Boston ??? We are still
talking of the same YOU. YOU who can respect and conform to a foreign
system in other countries but cannot in your own. You who will throw
papers and cigarettes on the road the moment you touch Indian ground. If
you can be an involved and appreciative citizen in an alien country, why
cannot you be the same here in India ?

Once in an interview, the famous Ex-municipal commissioner of Bombay ,
Mr. Tinaikar , had a point to make. 'Rich people's dogs are walked on
the streets to leave their affluent droppings all over the place,' he
said. 'And then the same people turn around to criticize and blame the
authorities for inefficiency and dirty pavements. What do they expect
the officers to do? Go down with a broom every time their dog feels the
pressure in his bowels?
In America every dog owner has to clean up after his pet has done the
job. Same in Japan . Will the Indian citizen do that here?' He's right.
We go to the polls to choose a government and after that forfeit all
responsibility. We sit back wanting to be pampered and expect the
government to do everything for us whilst our contribution is totally
negative. We expect the government to clean up but we are not going to
stop chucking garbage all over the place nor are we going to stop to
pick a up a stray piece of paper and throw it in the bin. We expect the
railways to provide clean bathrooms but we are not going to learn the
proper use of bathrooms.
We want Indian Airlines and Air India to provide the best of food and
toiletries but we are not going to stop pilfering at the least
opportunity.
This applies even to the staff who is known not to pass on the service
to the public. When it comes to burning social issues like those related
to women, dowry, girl child! and others, we make loud drawing room
protestations and continue to do the reverse at home. Our excuse? 'It's
the whole system which has to change, how will it matter if I alone
forego my sons' rights to a dowry.' So who's going to change the system?

What does a system consist of ? Very conveniently for us it consists of
our neighbours, other households, other cities, other communities and
the government. But definitely not me and YOU. When it comes to us
actually making a positive contribution to the system we lock ourselves
along with our families into a safe cocoon and look into the distance at
countries far away and wait for a Mr.Clean to come along & work miracles
for us with a majestic sweep of his hand or we leave the country and run
away.
Like lazy cowards hounded by our fears we run to America to bask in
their glory and praise their system. When New York becomes insecure we
run to England .. When England experiences unemployment, we take the
next flight out to the Gulf. When the Gulf is war struck, we demand to
be rescued and brought home by the Indian government. Everybody is out
to abuse the country. Nobody thinks of feeding the system. Our
conscience is mortgaged to money.

Dear Indians, The article is highly thought inductive, calls for a great
deal of introspection and pricks one's conscience too.... I am echoing
J. F. Kennedy 's words to his fellow Americans to relate to Indians.....

'ASK WHAT WE CAN DO FOR INDIA
AND DO WHAT HAS TO BE DONE TO MAKE INDIA
WHAT AMERICA AND OTHER WESTERN COUNTRIES ARE TODAY'

Lets do what India needs from us.

Forward this mail to each Indian for a change instead of sending Jokes
or junk mails.

Thank you,

Dr. Abdul Kalaam