I would like to be remembered as a good fellow, says Kalam

Kalam, who offered to get photographed with all mediapersons on board and exchange views with them, assessed his tour to Singapore, the Philippines and South Korea as very satisfactory. ‘‘I got the feeling that the governments and people of these three nation wanted India and China to play important role in ushering development and in Asia. The political leadership in all the three countries wanted India to be a genuine partner for development’’, he said.

The President said his visit has further firmed up the ‘‘Look East’’ policy of the government and added that the core competence of each country should be explored for the benefit of all others. The concept of a World Knowledge Platform was welcomed by the leaders of all the three countries.

During his hectic schedule in the three countries, the president met and interacted with high school and university students, met opinion makers, experts, technocrats, economists and businessmen besides the political leaders. He was received with respect and awe as he was described as the ‘‘missile man’’ who made a significant contribution towards the development and progress of the Indian space research programme. He made it a point to visit institutes for the science and technology and drove 150 kms from Seoul to visit the science town which is considered the largest hub of R&D in the world.

Kalam’s PowerPoint presentations at various fora were very well received. In fact, he was the first leader to give such a presentation at the Singapore Lecture which had been addressed by former US presidents, the UN Secretary General and a host of presidents and prime ministers of various countries in the past two decades.

Kalam spoke of nanotechnology and convergence of technology for the benefit of the mankind. His proposal for a Virtual University, where students located at various locations could ‘‘attend’’ and participate in ‘‘live lectures’’, was received with great applause.