HONTESTY HAS A PRICE
DD Podhigai telecast an interview with Mr. P. M. Nair, (retired
IAS officer, who was the Secretary to Dr. Abdul Kalam when he was the President).
I summarize the points he spoke in a voice choked with emotion. (Mr. Nair has authored a book titled
"Kalam Effect")
1. Dr Kalam used to receive costly gifts whenever he went abroad
as it is customary for many nations to give gifts to the visiting Heads of
State. Refusing the gift would become an insult to the nation and an
embarrassment for India. So, he received
them and on his return, Dr Kalam asked the gifts to be photographed and then
catalogued and handed over to the archives. Afterwards, he never even looked at
them. He did not take even a pencil from the gifts received when he left
Rashtrapathi Bhavan.
2. In 2002, the year Dr
Kalam took over, the Ramadan month came in July-August. It was a regular
practice for the President to host an iftar party.
Dr Kalam asked Mr Nair why he should host a party to people who
are already well fed and asked him to find out how much would be the cost. Mr
Nair told it would cost around Rs. 22 lakhs.
Dr Kalam asked him to donate that amount to a few selected
orphanages in the form of food, dresses and blankets. The selection of
orphanages was left to a team in Rashtrapathi Bhavan and Dr Kalam had no role
in it.
After the selection was made, Dr Kalam asked Mr Nair to come
inside his room and gave him a cheque for Rs 1 lakh. He said that he was giving
some amount from his personal savings and this should not be informed to
anyone.
Mr Nair was so shocked
that he said "Sir, I will go outside and tell everyone. People should know
that here is a man who not only donated what he should have spent but he is
giving his own money also”.
Dr Kalam though he was a devout Muslim did not have Iftar
parties in the years in which he was the President.
3. Dr Kalam did not like "Yes Sir" type of people. Once
when the Chief Justice of India had come and on some point Dr Kalam expressed
his view and asked Mr Nair, "Do you
agree?" Mr Nair said "No Sir, I do not agree with you". The
Chief Justice was shocked and could not believe his ears.
It was impossible for a civil servant to disagree with the
President and that too so openly. Mr Nair told him that the President would
question him afterwards why he disagreed and if the reason was logical 99% he
would change his mind.
4. Dr Kalam invited 50 of his relatives to come to Delhi and
they all stayed in Rashtrapathi Bhavan. He organised a bus for them to go around the
city which was paid for by him. No official car was used. All their stay and
food was calculated as per the instructions of Dr Kalam and the bill came to Rs
2 lakhs which he paid.
In the history of this country no one has done it!
Now, wait for the climax, Dr Kalam's elder brother stayed with
him in his room for the entire one week as Dr Kalam wanted his brother to stay
with him. When they left, Dr Kalam
wanted to pay rent for that room also.
Imagine the President of a country paying rent for the room in
which he is staying. This was any way not agreed to by the staff who thought
the honesty was getting too much to handle!!
5. When Kalam Sir was to
leave Rashtrapathi Bhavan at the end of his tenure, every staff member went and
met him and paid their respects.
Mr Nair went to him alone as his wife had fractured her leg and
was confined to bed. Dr Kalam asked why his wife did not come. He replied that
she was in bed due to an accident.
Next day, Mr. Nair saw lot of policemen around his house and
asked what had happened. They said that the President of India was coming to
visit him in his house. He came and met his wife and chatted for some time. Mr.
Nair says that no president of any country would visit a civil servant's house
and that too on such a simple pretext. I thought I should give the details as
many of you may not have seen the telecast and so it may be useful.
The younger brother of AJP Abdul Kalam runs an umbrella
repairing shop. When Mr. Nair met him during Kalam’s funeral, he touched his feet, in token of respect for
both Mr. Nair and brother.
Such information should be widely shared on social media as
mainstream media will not show this because it doesn't carry the so-called GB
TRP value.
