"It does not matter, who I am, I will work, and work, all the forces of universe, will also assist me. I will achieve , what I dream."I took this oath with hundreds of other students on 7th February in the auditorium. It was initiated by Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam when he visited our campus to inaugurate Quark 09. He said that when you dream, when you work, it does not matter who you are.
At the end of his inspiring speech, there was an interactive session with students. Somehow, all the questions submitted beforehand were from boys. So, he asked that last two questions should be asked by girls. One of them was mine:
Me- "As a technical student, when we are getting excellent education in a technical institute, after college, would we be serving India more if we become a researcher or would we be serving India more if we become a grassroots activist?"
Dr. Kalam- "If you take 100 engineers, technology group you take, my feeling is 10 to maximum, depending upon the institute, 20 percent, they will like to be interested in real research.So it is the necessity of the institution and the country also, to support the research. Because, competitiveness India is 41 now. Out of hundreds of nations, the competitiveness we are 41. If you want to become number one, two, three, four, five - science needed. Science only gives new technology. New technology will not be available to us immediately, till the technology becomes a product, somebody gets money for it. So science... Science, we need to encourage science. Government of India willing to spend 2 percent. Out of that, 0.8 percent for fundamental research. But our institutions are not spending."
At the end, he made us take another oath "I will work with integrity and succeed with integrity."
Amen
(Note: The 'Amen' is a personal addition, not a part of his speech)
