The Utterances of a Peculiar Mindset

I wanted to write about this for long. But just couldn't manage. Finally decided to give a try. Here is information about few personalities I adore the most in my life.

Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam

I don't need to introduce him. He is one of the most well-known and most adorable personalities among the Indians, specially the youngsters.
Heard of him first time when India had the nuclear tests at Pokhran way back in 1997. That time, Abdul Kalam's name was discussed as being the key scientist behind the success of the tests. Also later when he received the Barat Ratna, I got more familiar with his personality.
Born on 15th October 1931 at Rameswaram, in Tamil Nadu, Dr. Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam, specialized in Aero Engineering from Madras Institute of Technology.
He initially worked in DRDO in 1958 and then joined ISRO in 1963. Dr. Kalam has made significant contribution to Indian satellite and launch vehicles of ISRO and also in the missile programme of DRDO. As project Director, SLV-III, he contributed for the design, development and management of India’s first indigenous Satellite Launch Vehicle (SLV-III) to inject Rohini satellite in the near earth orbit. He was responsible for the evolution of ISRO’s launch vehicles programme and configurations. He rejoined DRDO in 1982 and conceived the Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP) for indigenous missiles.
He was Scientific Adviser to Defence Minister and Secretary, Department of Defence Research & Development from July 1992 to December 1999.
As Chairman, Technology Information, Forecasting and Assessment Council (TIFAC), he generated the Technology Vision 2020 documents – a road map for transforming India from Developing India to Developed India. He provided overall guidance to a number of Homegrown Technology Projects and major technology missions such as Sugar, Advanced Composites and Fly Ash utilization.
Dr. Kalam has served as the Principal Scientific Advisor to the Government of India, in the rank of Cabinet Minister, from November 1999 to November 2001. He was primarily responsible for evolving policies, strategies and missions for generation of innovations and support systems for multiple applications. Also, generating science and technology task in strategic, economic and social sectors in partnership with Government departments, institutions and industry. Dr. Kalam was also the Chairman, Ex-officio, of the Scientific Advisory Committee to the Cabinet (SAC-C).
Dr. Kalam took up academic pursuit as Professor, Technology & Societal Transformation at Anna University, Chennai and involved in teaching and research tasks. Above all he is on his mission to ignite the young minds for national development by meeting high school students across the country.
Dr. Kalam was conferred with the Degree of Doctor of Science (D.Sc. Honoris Causa) by 30 universities/academic institutions. He is recipient of several awards including the Indira Gandhi Award for National Integration 1997.
Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam has been awarded Padma Bhushan in 1981, Padma Vibhushan in 1990 and BHARAT RATNA in 1997. Dr. Kalam became the 11th President of India on 25th July 2002. His focus is on transforming India into a developed nation by 2020. He is among the most popular personalities among the youngsters.


Mr. N. R. Narayan Murthy

Another very well known face among the youngsters. He is the ideal for many people. Heard of him for the first time when he was invited in "Jeena Isis ka Naam Hai" on Zee TV. Later kept hearing and reading about him through various business magazines and news channels.
Mr. Narayana Murthy is undoubtedly one of the most famous persons from the IT industry. He is known not just for building the biggest IT empire in India but also for his simplicity. Almost every important dignitary visits Infosys campus. The beauty about his family is that they believe in sharing their wealth with the needy.
Born into a Kannadiga Deshastha Brahmin family in Mysore, India on August 20, 1946, he graduated with a degree in electrical engineering from the National Institute of Engineering, University of Mysore in 1967 after attending government school, and received his master's degree from IIT Kanpur in 1969.
He first took up a job at IIM Ahmedabad as Chief Systems Programmer. He then joined Patni Computer Systems in Pune. Before moving to Mumbai, Murthy met his wife Sudha Murthy in Pune who at the time was an engineer working at Tata Engineering and Locomotive Co. Ltd. (Telco, now known as Tata Motors) in Pune. In 1981, he founded Infosys with six other software professionals. He served as president of the National Association of Software and Service Companies, India from 1992 to 1994.
He has proved that one can progress in life even without using the malways. All one needs is have self confidence and the passion.

Dr. Vishwanath D. Karad

Dr. Vishwanath D. Karad, an eminent educationist, thinker a devoted teacher and a dedicated social worker, is a man of great vision, who is totally committed to the development of technical education and the cause of raising the qualities of life of the Indian masses for the betterment of tomorrow.
He is the founder of MIT Pune, first private engineering college in Maharashtra and one of the best technical institues.
Dr. Karad is a man who is highly proud of time tested ethos and culture, having his own ideas of social development. He has his own convictions and capacity to judge each issue on its own merit and the grit to stand by his principles at any cost, uphold truth and morality.
Dr. Vishwanath D.Karad is a great humanitarian and a man of compassion. He has a deep sense of purpose, be it in the field of Education, Religion, Social Welfare or any pioneering movement, which he strongly feels would bring relief to the downtrodden and weaker sections of the society.
One unique feature of Dr. Vishwanath D. Karad is total absence of egotism and vanity. Therefore, he is always easily accessible, unassuming, open to new ideas and he makes a profound impact on any individual, group or mass of people who happen to come in contact with him.

Mr. Tulsi Tanti

Tulsi Tanti is the Chairman of Suzlon Energy Ltd, a company dealing in wind energy. He is one of those first time entrepreneurs who saw potential in an inchoate idea, ventured into it, and made it big. Today, he ranks among top 10 richest men of India.
I heard of him for the first time when the news of Suzlon making an attemp to buy REPowes and Areva hit the headlines on CNBC. Later I googled a bit about him and his firm "Suzlon". And I got a fan of him very soon.
A commerce graduate and a diploma holder in mechanical engineering, Tulsi Tanti originally hails from Gujarat and is presently based in Pune, Maharashtra. Tulsi Tanti was earlier into textiles. He started his textile business in Gujarat. But he found that the prospects stunted due to infrastructural bottlenecks. The biggest of them all was the cost and unavailability of power, which formed a high proportion of operating expenses of textile industry.
In 1990, Tulsi Tanti invested in two windmills and realized its huge potential. In 1995, he formed Suzlon and gradually quit textiles. Suzlon Energy is the sixth largest wind energy company in the world and the largest in Asia. It is presently building what will be among the world's largest wind parks of its kind at 1,000 MW capacity.
Suzlon is currently concentrating on global expansion drive. It recently acquired Hansen Transmissions, a Belgian maker of wind-turbine gearboxes. Suzlon is also building a rotor-blade factory in Minnesota and has invested $60m in a factory in Tianjin, China. Tulsi Tanti is poised to make India a wind-power export hub.
The company already ranks as the world's eighth-largest producer of wind energy in terms of installed capacity to date. Tanti is aiming high and wants to close the gap with Suzlon's biggest European competitors, Denmark's Vestas Wind Systems, Germany's Enercon and Spain's Gamesa. Suzlon's surging revenues are only one-fifth those of Vestas, but the Indian outfit has been consistently profitable for six years. Vestas made losses in the last two years.

Dr. Sam Pitroda

Heard of him for the first time when he was awarded "Lokmanya Tilak Puraskar" in 2003. I was totally unaware of him till then. Then I googled a little about him and find out what a personality he is.

Satyanarayan Gangaram Pitroda, better known as Dr Sam Pitroda, born in Titlagarh, Orissa, is an inventor, entrepreneur and policymaker. Currently chairman of India's National Knowledge Commission, he is also widely considered to have been responsible for India's communications revolution. He is the Chairman and CEO of World-Tel Limited, an International Telecommunication Union (ITU) initiative. He holds many key technology patents, has been involved in several startups, and lectures extensively around the world on the implications of communications and information technology.
The name, Sam Pitroda can better be explained by the yellow phone booths all across India. Yes, it was mainly because of the efforts of this inventor, technocrat, and social thinker that telecom revolution started in India. It is interesting to know that Sam Pitroda first used a telephone only after moving to the US! The biggest virtue of Sam Pitroda is that he has a definite vision to use technology for the benefit and betterment of society. Along with being a pioneer in telecom, Sam Pitroda has made strong case for food, clean water, and adequate shelter for the unprivileged section. Through his efforts, Sam Pitroda has brought telephones to some of the world's previously isolated regions. In the field of telecom, Sam's emphasis was on accessibility rather than density.
By providing public access to telephones, Mr. Sam Pitroda revolutionized the state of telecommunications in India. Currently, Mr. Pitroda is the Chairman and CEO of World-Tel Limited, an International Telecom Union (ITU) initiative. He is also the Chairman and Founder of Sevend high-technology. Sam Pitroda is also the founding Chairman of a non-profit Foundation for' Revitalization of Local Health Traditions in India. As a result of his pioneering works, Sam Pitroda holds more than 50 patents and has lectured extensively on Telecom, Technology and Development, in almost all parts of the world. Sam Pitroda has also featured in several newspapers, magazines, radio and TV programs.
He is also the founder and CEO of C-SAM, Inc, and serves as a director on the board of Jet Airways. C-SAM has developed an m-Commerce application by the name OneWallet. The company has offices in London, Tokyo, and offshore development centres in India in Mumbai and Vadodara. He has served as an advisor to the United Nations and in 1992, his biography was published, and became a bestseller.
In 1984, Mr. Pitroda was invited to return to India by the then Prime Minister Mrs. Gandhi; on his return he founded the Center for Development of Telematics (C-DOT) under the Indian government. In 1987, he became advisor to Mrs. Gandhi's successor, Rajiv Gandhi and was responsible for shaping India's foreign and domestic telecommunications policies. He is largely considered responsible for the telecommunications revolution in India and specifically, the ubiquitous, yellow-signed Public Call Offices (PCO) that quickly brought cheap and easy domestic and international public telephones all over the country.
For the subsequent decade, Pitroda continued his business interests in computer manufacturing and software. When the 2004 elections were declared, Rahul Gandhi asked for his help for a small committee that he was forming to advise him on policy issues.
When the United Progressive Alliance government came to power following the 2004 General Elections, the Dr. Manmohan Singh recruited him to head the National Knowledge Commission.

Mr. Babasaheb Purandare

Known affectionately as “Shivshahir” (loosely translated, “Bard of Shivaji”), Babasaheb Purandare has dedicated his life to Chhatrapati Shivaji. The fruit of his ceaseless struggle to find and display the history of Maharashtra's golden period is the biography written by him, “Raja Shivchhatrapati”. Of course, his fictional novels set in that period also show his love for history, and the firm grasp of historical facts as well as lyrical genius.
He is also an ideal for the trekkers and Sahyadri lovers. He has been into trekking the forts of sahyadri at the times when very few people were interested into knowing about Sahyadri forts. Babasaheb have also played important role in forming National Education Foundation, a group actively involved into the organising of Adventure race "Enduro3" and also in various adventure activities. Babasaheb is also playing the role of chief matron in "rajashivaji.com", a website dedicated to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj (launching soon) which will also be the biggest website dedicated to a single person.