Even as you read this, there are still reams to be written and read about former president Dr APJ Abdul Kalam. Everybody, and anybody, in fact, who had even a tenuous connection to the scientist, even a fleeting memory, seemed to be touched by the personality in some way. If not his simplicity and humility, it is some inspirational words that they still carry in their hearts, fluttering within like the Wings of Fire, ready to lift one from the ordinary to the extraordinary.

Running like a common thread through all the accolades and memories is the fact that the 83-year-old was a man for the youth. So many young aspiring scientists talk about the day they saw Kalam for the first time, or the few words he spoke to them. Even in his last address in Shillong, reports state about how excited he was to go to the north-eastern part of the country, and, in particular, to address students.