![]() DEAR KALAM SIRNidhi Seth and Swati Sehgal DEAR KALAM SIR By Saji Mathew and Julie John Year 2016, pp. 224, Rs. 1699.00 VOLUME XL NUMBER 11 November 2016 Dear Kalam Sir, a compendium
of tributes to the ‘people’s
president’, ‘the missile man of
India’ amazes us by the sheer novelty
of the idea. An initiative of Letter
Farms, this book is a testimony to the
fact that Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, with
his ideas, words and actions reached
out and touched a great number of
lives. A man who rose from a humble
background to become President, India
ever had, Kalam’s life is a lesson
that ‘dreams with a vision and hard
work ensure success.’
‘Postcard is your canvas and sky is your limit’ is the single line
instruction with which Letter Farms began the community art project
Dear Kalam Sir, which is a confluence of ‘art, articulation and passion’.
The unique project witnessed participation of students from
several schools and people from all walks of life with the assistance of
hundreds of implementing institutions such as the Navodaya
Vidyalaya Samiti, Sri Sri Ravishankar Vidya Mandir, Bhavan’s
Shikshan Bharati, Muslim Education Society, ICSE & CBSE schools,
Jain University, Central Chinmaya Trust and many more from India
and abroad. The project began with the purpose of coalescing people’s
love for Kalam and restoring the faded glory of the handwritten
humble postcard as a medium of communication. It is a celebration,
both of the contributions of Dr. Kalam and the medium, the postcard.
The postcards in the book exhibit myriad creative expressions—
poems, sketches, quotes and pictures that capture vignettes of Dr.
Kalam’s life, and all of these find space in the 3.5"x5" canvas of the
postcard. Of the thousands of postcards received about three hundred
and fifty found their way to the book. There are postcards from
across the country and abroad that etch out the contributor’s adoration
for the President.
Right from the cover page, which has a picture of Kalam with
the night sky as the backdrop, a shooting missile and silhouettes of
two children—joyous and exuberant—till the last message of the
book, each page is a visual delight. One can pick up the book and
read it from anywhere without losing the thread. The title of the
book is also in close synchrony with the theme as the salutation
signifies an intensely personal and emotive relationship. The tributes
vary from life-like sketches that explore his journey from
Rameshwaram to Rashtrapati Bhawan (even using a graph in one ... Table of Contents >> |