Author: A P J Abdul Kalam
Publisher: Penguin/Viking
Year: 2002
Language: English
Pages: 205
ISBN/UPC (if available): 067004928X
Description
When A P J Abdul Kalam wrote 'India 2020: A Vision for the New Millennium" with Y S Rajan in 1998, little did they expect the magnitude of the response they would get. The idea that India could actually be a developed nation in a short time rather remain condemned to a subsistence diet of marginal improvements and promises struck a chord among readers. The book continues to be a best seller.
Ignited Minds goes the logical next step and examines why, given all our skills, resources and talents, we, so, obviously capable of being the best settle so often for the worst. What is it that we as a nation are missing? For at the heart of Ignited Minds is an irresistible premise: the people of a nation have the power to realize their dream of a truly good life.
Kalam offers no formulaic prescription in Ignited Minds. Instead, he takes up different issues and themes that struck him on his pilgrimage around the country as he met thousands of schoolchildren, teachers, scientists, saints and seers in the course of two years: the necessity for a patriotism that transcends religion and politics; for role models who point out the path to take; and for confidence in ourselves and in our strengths.
Who was he to write on so large a theme, he wondered as he started writing this book. But at the end, Kalam's humility notwithstanding, this may well prove to be the book that motivates us to get back on the winning track and unleash the energy within a nation that has not allowed itself full rein.
Kalam dedicates this work in following words:
" I dedicate this book to a child who is studying in class 12. Her name is Snehal Thakkar. On 11 April 2002 when I reached Anand by road in the evening, it was under curfew following communal disturbances. The next day, at the Anandalya High School, while talking to the students, a question came up: 'Who is our enemy?'. There were many answers, but the one we all agreed was correct came from her: 'Our enemy is poverty.' It is the root cause of our problems and should be the object of our fight, not our own."
Contents
Acknowledgements
Preface
1. The Dream and the Message
2. Give Us a Role Model
3. Visionary Teachers and Scientists
4. Learning from Saints and Seers
5. Patriotism beyond Politics and Religion
6. The Knowledge Society
7. Getting the Forces Together
8. Building a New State
9. To My Countrymen
Epilogue
Song of Youth
References
Index