Pokhran-II was a series of five nuclear bomb test explosions. It consisted of five detonations, of which the first was a fusion bomb and the remaining four were fission bombs. The Bhabha Atomic Research Centre had presented Kalam with a memento of a banyan tree bonsai which had a statue of a smiling Buddha under it. "The Buddha has smiled" was the code used by scientists in 1974 to declare that the nuclear test has been successful.

At a function at IIT (BHU) Varanasi where he was invited as chief guest, Kalam refused to sit on the President’s chair offered especially to him. The chair was bigger in size and was meant to give Kalam special honour. Out of the five chairs arranged on the stage, one was for Kalam in the centre and the other four were for top university officials. When the Missile Man was told to sit on the big chair, he took notice of it and humbly offered the seat to a university official instead.

3. Inspiring young minds to dream and fly
During his tenure as President of India, Kalam made it a priority to meet as many young people as possible one-to-one. He met almost a record-breaking target of 500,000 during his five-year term. When he left office in 2007, he was conferred the loving title of “Kalam Chacha” (“Uncle Kalam”) because he would receive hundreds of emails a day from young people inspired by his encouragement to “dream, dream, dream!” He is reported to have replied in person to nearly all of them.

In one of his last memories with Dr Kalam, Sripal Singh recalled how worried Kalam was at the time about the Parliament, the supreme institution of democracy, being dysfunctional. He said, “I have seen two different governments in my tenure. I have seen more after that. This disruption just keeps happening. It is not right. I really need to find out a way to ensure that the parliament works on developmental politics.” He asked for a surprise assignment question to be given out to students at IIM Shillong at the end of the lecture. He asked them to suggest ‘three innovative ways to make the Parliament more productive and vibrant.’ He questioned, “But how can I ask them to give solutions if I don’t have any myself?”
For the next hour, they discussed numerous options to come up with recommendations. They included this discussion in his last book, Advantage India.

5. Inspiring change even after leaving office
In 2012, he launched a campaign called ‘What Can I Give Movement to develop a “giving” attitude in the youth and to encourage them to contribute towards nation building by taking small but positive steps. In 2012, his efforts to improve healthcare led to the release of a tablet for medical personnel to use in remote areas.
As the Presidential elections grow closer, let us hope that a few teachings of Late President Kalam inspire candidates competing to take charge and make a better India.