Each chapter in this book brings alive a precious memory for me. The extract titled ‘Birth of a World Leader’ captures how Dr Kalam saw the life of Gandhiji in South Africa, and was amongst the first lectures I heard him give back in 2008, when I was a student. He told me about his experience in Kibutu in Arunachal Pradesh (in the extract ‘Jai Hind’) during one of our dinner discussions in Raj Bhawan, Itanagar, while looking on at the Himalayas. This became a prominent story in one of the books we co-authored—Target 3 Billion.

The extract ‘Kidney Chain’ reminds me of the exact manner of how Dr Kalam reacted and how deeply he was touched when he learned that the well-known industrialist Shri Kochouseph Chittilappilly donated his kidney to an unknown ailing driver. The conversation between Dr Kalam and Shri Chittilappilly indeed had a significant impact, not only on both Dr Kalam and Chittilappilly but also on everybody else who learned about this incident through Dr Kalam’s lectures.

Most poignantly, the hymn ‘Righteousness of the Heart’ in the extract ‘Happiness of the Whole’ were the exact words Dr Kalam was about to say standing at the lectern at IIM Shillong when he left us.

People often ask me now, ‘Was Dr Kalam ever worried about the state of the nation? Was he worried about how corruption hampers growth or how pollution degrades human life?’ The answer is an unequivocal ‘Yes, of course.’ But at the same time, he was a perennial optimist and had an unflinching faith in the ability and intent of the Indian youth to overcome every single problem the nation faces. He trusted the youth to think of fresh ideas and generate innovations and create a brand of integrity in all their actions.

This book, a collection of his thoughts, largely focused on the youth and articulated at different moments of his life, is indeed an important milestone in motivating and energizing the youth to the position to which they truly belong—as the foremost nation builders.

Today, Dr Kalam is not with us in a mortal form. But great personalities never perish; they just transform from human form to powerful ideas. Dr Kalam as an idea is and will always be alive with us, and My India: Ideas for the Future is a commendable effort towards it. I commend Puffin India and the team for their diligence in bringing this book out, despite the difficult times following Dr Kalam’s sudden passing.

I am confident that this book will help young readers understand Dr Kalam much better and give them the confidence, motivation and courage to continue on the path he showed us all. I am also confident that they will work towards fulfilling many of Dr Kalam’s yet-to-be completed dreams, which include creating an economically developed India by 2020, ensuring that rural areas develop, bringing transparency and integrity in all walks of life and establishing India as a knowledge superpower.

In August 2015, a week after Dr Kalam’s sudden demise, I was in Chennai, where I was talking to a small group of children from a government school. I asked them, ‘When you grow up, what would you like to be?’ They all spontaneously raised their hands and cheered, ‘Kalam!’ Such was his effect on the youth of this nation.