As I see myself

The most awaited moment of recent BITSian history happened today, and it was worth the wait.

Even though we could not get the audi pases, we made most of what we had.

At 2:30PM a BIG gang of students stood outside the library, under the scorching sun, jubiliating at every sound of a passing automobile in anticipation of the most powerful man in the country.

The moment finally arrived at 2:48PM.

A short, frail looking old man, extremely healthy for his 76 summers, walked out of a small ambasador car (which was followed by a long fleet of other vehicles) under the shade of a blue umbrella. He hopped up the library stairs and into the shade of the library roof. Then as if an afterthought, he walked straight back into the sun, sending his security men into a tizzy. An old man with white flowing silvery hair, stood on the library stairs and waved at us!

The President of India had arrived!!!

After a short 3 minute walk inside the library he walked out and straight into his car. This time he ordered his driver to drive slow. The entire convoy of 27 cars went past us at less than 10kmph. Dr.Kalam unfolded his blinds of the car and watched all of us shouting and waving in exhilaration of having the first citizen of the nation wave back and smile at us.

Once inside the audi, after the initial formalities of the welcome speech by the VC, the most awaited "invited lecture" in BITSian history began. Dr.Kalam talked about "Convergence of Technology". He felt BITS, with all its multidisciplinary approach and flexibilities was the right venue to broach such a discussion. The man started with World-Class systems, drifted into nano-technology and carbon nano-tubes. He talked about bioSciences and its culmination with information technology to form bio-informatics. He spoke of design and manufacturing and the strides our nation was taking in these fields. He then spoke of INdia's commitment to global development by citing an example of our support in helping in wiring the 53 african nations in one BIG wired network. He sought active BITSian support in this initiative.

Then there was a small QnA session. The normal questions regarding poverty level in india, multi-cultural affects on students in 21st century, moon mission etc were asked and answered with aplomb by his excellency.
KrishnaHasa from my-india gave a small intro about my india and asked Dr.Kalam about how
students could channelise their forces for better utilisation of communities like my-india. The president promptly replied that the most important goal of a student is excellence in education. The activities like social service, my-india etc can be carried out in your liesure time as on sundays and holidays, but he again emphasised that the foremost aim of a student is excellence in academics and nothing else.
Sindu Anand was the last to ask the question. She asked something related to righteousness.
His excellency ended his speech in BITS by answering this question with the following words and made us repaet them after him.

"When there is righteousness in the hearts, there is beauty of character

When there is beauty of character, there is harmony in the home
When there is harmony in the home, there is order in the nation
When there is order in the nation, there is peace in the world"

After this he left the auditorium and proceeded on his journey to jaipur.

The much awaited visit had come to an end and we were fortunate to be a part of it.