Srijan Pal Singh, who was the closest assistant of APJ Abdul Kalam wrote his diary on social networking site facebook, how the funeral of Kalam was heavy for him and let many emotional challenges to him. When a 99 year old big brother came forth to see his 83 year old brother.
Read the pick from Srijan Pal Singh’s Facebook Account about the funeral of APJ Abdul Kalam
Dr. Kalam’s most beloved person was perhaps his eldest brother. He was 99 years old, still could walk and talk all by himself. I remember sir saying, “Srijan (he pronounced it as Shree-jan) I want to celebrate my brother’s 100th birthday in a big way. I want all of you, all my friends to come to Rameshwaram next year in summer when my brother turns 100. I want him to see how happy we are at his century. We will prepare for it”. And when I often complained, “Sir! You have not shown me around your native home at Rameshwaram”, he would reply, “I will show the whole house around, including the solar power I installed for my brother. Let him turn 100!”
Today, finally I got shown around the house. Not as a 100th birthday of his brother but as a heart wrenching funeral of my guide and guru. It was series of difficult moments.
The most painful one came when the 99 year old brother came forth to see his 83 year old brother and say goodbye through the glass cover. He gently placed his finger over the cover and looked through it through in grief. He then took some white little flower in left hand, and then picked one at time and carefully placed in a single straight line over the glass cover under which his brother laid. Slowly arranging them with trembling hands. We all could not stop our tears from escaping our eyes. The man who had been instrumental in raising Kalam sir almost like a parent, who taught him to draw straight line was now laying line of flowers as a goodbye.
Later I met his brother…. bowed to him, touched his feet … he is the elder of my guru.
