Kalam ayya: Thank you very much

APJ Abdul Kalam made anything possible. His child like attitude and his zeal for life was what described this great man who became the People's President. It was the year 2010, at a village in Vadachennimalai in Tamil Nadu one man's life was about to change forever.

We are speaking of V Kathiresean who had to drop out of school to support his family. He ended up working as a driver for his Kalam ayya.

One day when Kalam ayya asked Kathiresan about his life, he had told him how he had to drop out of school to support his family. Ayya was very persistent that I studied and fulfilled my dream, Kathiseran had said in an informal chat.

Go study, I will support you:

Kathiresan would very often choke when he referred to his ayya. I would drive ayya around and he would very often ask me what I planned on doing. When I had told him that I wanted to study, without wasting a minute, he said go study, I will support you.

" I was 47 years old at that time and never thought it would be possible for me to study, Kathiresean had said.

For me Kalam ayya was an inspiration. Thanks to him today I have done my PHD in history and went on to be appointed a lecturer at the Arignar Anna Government Arts College in Vadachennimalai.

Ayya had told Kathiresean that time should not come in the way. Do your studies through long distance. Kathiresean would sit through all the speeches that Kalam ayya delivered and this would act as an inspiration. I would work from 10 in the morning to 6 in the evening. It was no easy job to come home and study, but looking at the enthusiasm that ayya had, it made everything seem easy, he had said.

The meeting with ayya:

The first time that Kathiresean met with his ayya was in the year 1980. Ayya was a DRDO director at that time. I was appointed as his driver. I never knew that this meeting would change my life forever Kathiresean had said.

His inspirational words changed everything for me. Even after ayya left DRDO, his words stayed with me. He remained my inspiration always. First he appeared for the class X examination and then went on to complete class XII. He did he his BA from the Kamraj university in Madurai and then his MA in political science.

There was no looking back for him and he pursued his B ed and M ed from the Madras university. He went on to pursue his MPhil from the Kamraj university. This was followed by a law degreee and a PhD from the PhD from Manonmaniam Sundaranar University.

After obtaining a PhD, Dr Kathiresean called his ayya and told him about it. A long time had passed but ayya remembered me and he said, " you have not let me down."