Well, opportunity knocks but once, and u just have to be at the right place and right time to grab hold of it. This is what knocked on my NTU inbox just a couple of minutes back.
Dear Deans of Schools/Institutions, Vice President/Directors of Offices,
Dr Abdul Kalam, the President of India, is scheduled to visit NTU on Thursday, 2 February 2006 between noon and 2.00 pm as part of his state visit to Singapore.
Dr Abdul Kalam will address our students at 1.00 pm at the lecture theatre, level 1, SBS Building. We wish to gather a total of about 300 students for the address.
And my dean says:
If you are interested in attending the following event – which is rare for the President of India to be here -- please let me know by today. This message was forwarded to me this morning, and I’m sorry for the short notice. SCI only has 10 seats. Since we are allocated 10 seats, I’ll just have to do it on a first come first serve basis. Let me know.
Well, what do I do..what do I do.. Summon all my typewriting skills and put it to the test to send my details across in the shortest possible time. Oh yeah, regarding right time and place, I just happened to open my webmail for sending some project-related email and there this is!!! And a total of 4 mins elapsed from the time of the mail to the time of my reply, thereby increasing my chances for attending the same, given that most of the undergrad will be sleeping at this hour(10.30am) and most of the masters students will be busy working to check their webmails now.
After this crazy few mins when my heart narrowly escaped unscathed, I forwarded this email to my masters colleagues, and hope some of them do make it!
I always wanted to be only in three professions, namely a bus conductor, a fighter pilot and an astronaut. The first went to the thrash once my huge collection of over 10000 bus tickets that I had accumulated were thrown to the bin after I came to Singapore (yeah, was there till my 12th). Next I wanted to become a fighter pilot (I dont know when, maybe from my 4th or 5th standard). I still get excited seeing a fighter plane and was on my way to serve the nation, even passing the NDA written exam, until I was diagnosed with my lifelong agony, aka color blindness. Though partial, I was to go nowhere near mettalurgy, chemical industry and ....aeronautics :( Why god why... Meanwhile I also wanted to become an astronaut (most astronauts are pilots and most of the early ones were fighter pilots, apart from being scientists). So, my dream was to become an astronaut, but for a person allergic to text books, I find it hard to fulfill that dream as well. I satisfy my desires by looking up at the night sky and wondering how it will be...
So naturally, it was a dream to meet the scientist/ researcher/ leader/ genius/ ISRO guy/ intellectual/ Vedic Scholar/ Visionary/ President of India! I have heard, read, revered him ever since I first heard about him. Followed his (partial?) autobiography in Kumudham or Vikatan, when it came out, to the hilt and can never stop admiring his personality, persona and grace. His love for science is only surpassed by his love for children. Looking forward to the opportunity of a lifetime, I do wish it materialises and I get to salute him first hand!
Random Access
The search has just begun !!!
10 comments:
Wow hope you get to see him. Fingers crossed for you
hope we soon get to read a post describing him there in that audi with you....he happens to be my role model...though its not possible for me to follow his footsteps anymore...nyways best of luck
oh wow hope u get to see him - i like that man ;)
The President of India had come to my undergrad college in december 2003 after I had passed out. My college sent out invites for alumni to join in, but the alumni strength was restricted. I came to know of this pretty late and by that time, the alumni seats were all gone.. Had to call my principal up personally to get myself a seat in the auditorium.. Was worth all the effort.
A seperate helipad was setup in our college and the President landed there right on time!!! Impressive!!!
The one hr that he spent at college was just awesome!!!
hey! cool!! hope you get to meet the great one!! don't wanna gloat but i actually have a autographed copy of his book!! ( addressed to deepti!! )
p.s. do you know that your blog is pink?
Thanks all of you! My fingers are still crossed about what might happen.
Harashita, thanks for dropping by and hope i get to see him!
Visithra, who doesnt? :)
Whoosh, hope its the same case with me :)
Deepti, thats nice! I do wanna get his book as well, if I ever come across it! Btw, I heard that my blog is pink, but its been pink ever since the start and Im too lazy to change it :P
yeah, hope u meet the guy...he is something, isn't he?
MindBlowing! thas the word for the man u r too meet. He is an amazing orator, and i have read many of his speeches.He had visited my undergrad college once too! he is not exactly my role model, but i still admire the guy! Prepare to be Enthralled!
it'll be aan unforgettable experience man...his speeches and talks are simply too tooo inspiring!
RA avara meet panna naan visarichatha sollu.
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