You Are Born To Blossom:
Take My Journey Beyond

I wrote ‘Energy Body’ (Care Foundation, 2003) with cardiologist Dr. P. Krishnam Raju to present the human body as an energy system, after going through a cardiac arrest, resuscitation, and bypass surgery. My recuperation took me to Myanmar and, stunned by the pristine old world still existing there, I wrote ‘Glitter N Gold: Positioning Myanmar in a Globalized World’ with Ambassador U. Kyi Thein and Dr. P. Krishnam Raju (Ocean Books, 2005) and ‘Benefactor of Humanity: The Life and Thought of Gautam Buddha’ with Dr. Kyaw Myint (Ocean Books, 2006).

By the time Dr. Kalam’s presidency ended in 2007, he was known as a people’s President and was the most loved inspirational leader for children. He had interacted with over a million schoolchildren in a structured manner and the book, ‘You are Born to Blossom’, attempts to capture the takeaway of this phenomenal exercise.

Dr. Kalam says, “The scheme of civil society depends on educating young people to become enlightened citizens and adults who are responsible, thoughtful, and enterprising. This is neither a segment of the service industry nor a work of the Government. It is, indeed, an intricate, challenging task requiring a deep understanding of ethical principles, moral values, political theory, aesthetics, and economics. Above all, it is about understanding children, the potential embedded in them and grooming them to be a useful part of society. The responsibility of this task can neither be spurned away on to the Government nor can be bought off by money.”

Dr. Kalam writes, “We live in a terror-induced era. There are people who believe they will earn an honored place in paradise by sacrificing themselves for a dream. Where does this strange notion, paradise, come from? Is not the Earth an abode bestowed upon mankind? Is not every human being born destined to blossom in this very life? This book does not provide the answer. Instead of providing such answers, it asks a question — Why not? Are not all buds destined to blossom?”

Sir John Daniel, President, Commonwealth of Learning, in his foreword, called it a personal book that recalls many of the steps in Dr. Kalam’s own emotional, moral and intellectual development, in ways that are certain to plunge readers into a recollection of the people and institutions that helped them blossom. Sir Daniel writes, “By reading this book, I was transported to the memories of my mother reciting poetry and to the book written by my grandfather… alongside his job in the Excise Department.” 

This book calls for learning at every stage of life and celebrates teachers. “What soil is to life on the earth, teachers are to society. Just as soil shelters seeds and provides physical support for their roots as they germinate, grow and mature into adult plants that create seed and thus perpetuate the cycle, teachers prepare and guide young minds to assume careers and become engines of growth and progress.”

The book has been translated into Hindi and Telugu.