Learning How to Fly: Life Lessons for the Youth

by A.P.J. Abdul Kalam

When I think of my childhood days, I am reminded of Shri Sivasubramania Iyer who taught me when I was studying in the fifth grade at the age of ten. Whenever my teacher entered into the classroom, we all saw in him a teacher radiating knowledge. He was a great teacher in our school. All of us loved to attend his class and hear him. One day, he was teaching about the flight of bird. He drew a diagram of a bird on the blackboard depicting the wings, tail and the body structure with the head. He explained how birds lift and fly. He also explained to us how they change direction while flying. For nearly twenty-five minutes he gave the lecture with lots of information on lift, drag, how the birds fly in a formation. At the end of the class, he wanted to know whether we had understood how the birds fly. I said I did not understand. When I said this, the teacher asked the other students whether they understood or not. Many students said that they also did not understand. Our response did not upset him, since he was a committed teacher.