V Shankar, President of Shanmukhananda Sabha and South Indian Education Society (SIES), remembers Dr APJ Abdul Kalam stating that when he was a boy of 8 years, his father, who was elected the municipal chairman of Rameswaram, went for namaz. A man came to his house and gave Kalam a silver bowl and asked him to hand it over to his father. Without knowing what it was, Kalam accepted it and kept it inside. His mother was also praying in the house and so did not pay heed to the visitor.