The simplistic role model
As I heard about the sudden demise of our own rocket scientist, Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, the heaviness my heart went through, made me realize what a colossal loss it is for the country and for humanity as a whole. During one of my birthdays a couple of years ago, I was gifted the "Wings of Fire" book, written by Mr APJ. I read the book a bit here and a bit there, but my Mother, who was with me for a few weeks that time, deep dived into it. Her reading habit wasn't really great, but she spent a considerable amount of time with the book, memorizing quotes, writing them in a notepad and explaining the significance of those, in the evening. I could sense a real freshness in her voice during those conversations. As I write these, I'm not sure she would have learnt about the heartbreaking news, the time of the day it is now, would have made her sleep. Tomorrow morning when she hears it, she will be nothing short of being crestfallen. Such is her admiration towards this ma