On the fateful Monday evening of July 27, 2015, India's most loved President Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam better known as APJ Abdul Kalam was delivering a lecture at IIM-Shillong. 'Creating a Livable Planet Earth' was not only the topic of his lecture which he had just begun to give before the students but was also the subject of a book which he could not finish in his lifetime.
The 4,000-word lecture remained unfinished as the 'Missile Man of India' collapsed. He was rushed in an ambulance to the nearby Bethany Hospital but later that evening, he was declared to have died of a cardiac arrest.
A student attending the lecture said, "He (Kalam) started his lecture and was in the middle of a sentence, had barely spoken two sentences, and he collapsed. We did not have the opportunity to hear the full lecture."
The death of the recipient of Padma Bhushan (1981), Padma Vibhushan (1990) and Bharat Ratna (1997) was a shock to the nation.
Dr Kalam will forever be remembered for his contributions to the country's nuclear and space programmes. His books 'Wings of Fire' and 'Ignited Minds' will always be an inspiration to many.
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