DELHI PUBLIC SCHOOL

N MAHENDRA HILLS
STUDY MATERIALS

SUBJECT: ENGLISH MY CHILDHOOD CLASS: IX

Summary of My Childhood:
My childhood summary deals with the famous biography “Wings of Fire” of the celebrated Indian APJ Abdul Kalam.
My Childhood refers to a section in this book. This section or chapter talks about the early days’ of Kalam.
Furthermore, the chapter gives us an idea of how the childhood of Abdul Kalam prepared him to become a
successful scientist and president in the future. Much has to do with his upbringing which Kalam discusses in this
section from “Wings of Fire”. Moreover, Kalam tells us about his parents and siblings here. He also mentions the
important role of his friends in his life. In short, one can say, that in My Childhood, Kalam mentions everything that
had an impact on his life. These things shaped him into the successful man he became in the future.

Background and Explanation:

APJ Abdul Kalam was born into a Muslim family that was middle class. Furthermore, he had three brothers.
Moreover, Kalam also had one sister. Furthermore, his father and mother were both of good nature. Moreover,
Kalam’s childhood house was ancestral.

The father of APJ Abdul Kalam lived a life that one can say was very simple. Nevertheless, his father made all the
necessities available to his children. Furthermore, his parents didn’t have any education and they were also not rich.
Moreover, many outsiders ate with the family every day. Also, Kalam had the qualities of self-discipline and honesty
due to his parents.

Kalam’s family was secular in nature. His family gave an equal amount of respect to all the religions. Furthermore,
there was participation from his family in Hindu festivals. Moreover, Kalam heard stories of the Prophet and
Ramayana from his grandmother and mother. All of this clearly shows the secularism present in his family.

Friendship was influential in Kalam’s childhood. Furthermore, he had three friends. Furthermore, their religious
backgrounds were different. Moreover, there was not a trace of feelings of discrimination among those friends. All
these friends including kalam went into different professions.

In 5th standard, a new teacher came to the class of Kalam. In class, Kalam was wearing a cap. This cap certainly gave
Kalam a distinct Muslim identity. Moreover, Kalam always sat near Ramanandha, a Hindu priest son. This was
something that the new teacher was not able to tolerate. Consequently, Kalam was required to sit on the
backbench. After this incident, both the friends felt very sad and told this to their parents.

Furthermore, Ramanandha’s father met with the teacher to inform him not to spread the social inequality and
communal hatred. He made a demand that the apology must come. Furthermore, in case of refusal, the teacher
must quit. Consequently, there was reformation the nature of the teacher and an apology came from him.

On one occasion, a science teacher of Abdul asked him to come to his home for dinner. However, the wife of this
science teacher didn’t agree to serve Kalam due to her belief in religious segregation. Consequently, the science
teacher made a decision to serve food to Kalam. Furthermore, the teacher himself sat beside Kalam to eat a meal.
The wife of the science teacher was observing all this behind the door. The science teacher gave the second
invitation to Kalam for a meal next weekend. This time, the wife served with her own hands, but from inside the
kitchen.
Kalam’s upbringing came to an end when he received permission to go Ramanathapuram for further studies after
the end of Second World War. His father and mother certainly loved. However, this love didn’t mean they forced
their decisions on Kalam.

Character Sketch of Abdul Kalam’s Father

Abdul Kalam’s father Jainulabdeen was an honest and generous man. He had no formal education, he was
progressive and valued education. He didn’t have much wealth but he was a generous man and provided both
material and emotional security to his family. He was a self-disciplined and very practical man with a vast store of
wisdom. He never obstructed the progressive ways of his children.

Character Sketch of Abdul Kalam’s Mother

Abdul Kalam’s mother Ashiamma was an ideal support for her husband. She was a gentle and kind lady with faith in
goodness and deep kindness. Like her husband she was also very generous and fed a number of outsiders daily,
along with her family members. She was an ideal helpmate to her husband.

Character Sketch of Sivasubramaniam Iyer

Sivasubramaniam Iyer was Kalam’s Science teacher, he was an orthodox brahmin. He was a tolerant and flexible
individual who wished to remove societal barriers between Muslims and Hindus. He was a renegade who wished to
bring change in the society and was mentally prepared to confront hindrances during this process. He faced
challenges even from his own family when his wife refused to serve food to Kalam, when he invited him over for
dinner. But, without losing faith in his belief that caste and religion do not segregate people, he served the young
Kalam himself. Thus, he reformed his wife not by force but by setting an example. He was a devoted teacher who
connected well with the children. He spent many hours teaching while encouraging and inspiring the kids.

Character Sketch of Ramanadha Sastry

Ramanadha Sastry was Abdul Kalam’s childhood friend. He was from an orthodox Hindu Brahmin families. At school
when Abdul Kalam was asked to sit in the last bench by one of the teachers because he was a Muslim, Ramanadha
did not like it and complained about the teacher to his father Pakshi Lakshmana Sastry, the priest of the
Rameswaram Temple. Ramanadha assumed the priesthood of the Rameswaram temple after his father’s death.
NCERT Textbook Questions

Thinking About The Text

(Page 74)

Activity:

Find Dhanuskodi and Rameswaram on the map. What language(s) do you think are spoken there? What languages
do you think the author, his family, his friends and his teachers spoke with one another?

Answer:

Question 1.

Where was Abdul Kalam’s house?

Answer:

Abdul Kalam’s house was on the Mosque Street in Rameswaram.

I. Answer these questions in one or two sentences each.

Question 2.

What do you think Dinamani is the name of? Give a reason for your answer.

Answer:

Dinamani is the name of a newspaper. Abdul Kalam attempts to trace the Second World War’s news in the headlines
of this newspaper.

Question 3.

Who were Abdul Kalam’s school friends? What did they later become?

Answer:

Ramanadha Sastry, Aravindan and Sivaprakasan were his school friends. Ramanadha Sastry became a priest of the
Rameswaram temple. Aravindan went into the business of arranging transport for visiting pilgrims. Sivaprakasan
became a catering contractor for the Southern Railways.
Question 4.

How did Abdul Kalam earn his first wages?

Answer:

Abdul Kalam earned his first wages by distributing newspapers.

Question 5.

Had he earned any money before that? In what way?

Answer:

Yes, he earned money before also. He used to collect the tamarind seeds and sell them to a provision shop on the
Mosque Street. A day’s collection would fetch him the princely sum of one anna.

II. Answer each of these questions in a short paragraph (about 30 words).

Question 1.

How does the author describe:

a) his father
b) his mother
c) himself?

Answer:

a) The author describes his father as a wise and generous person. He felt happy when he helped others. He did
not have much formal education and riches. He was a man of confidence and great wisdom. He avoided
inessential comforts and luxuries.
b) His mother was a noble and kind- hearted woman. She used to feed a large number of people. She had all
the attributes of a typical Indian mother.
c) I was born into a middle-class Tamil family. I was a short boy with rather undistinguished looks, born to tall
and handsome parents. I studied physics and aerospace engineering and became a scientist.

Question 2.

What characteristics does he say he inherited from his parents?

Answer:

The author inherited humility and benevolence from his parents. He learnt lessons in honesty and integrity from his
parents. He was self-disciplined because of his parents’ exemplary life.

III. Discuss these questions in class with your teacher and then write down your
answers in two or three paragraphs each.
Question 1.

“ On the whole, the small society of Rameswaram was very rigid in terms of the segregation of different social
groups,” says the author.
Which social groups does he mention? Were these groups easily identifiable (for example, by the way they dressed)?

Were they aware only of their differences or did they also naturally share friendships and experiences? (Think of the
bedtime stories in Kalam’s house; of who his friends were ; and of what used to take place in the pond near his
house.)

The author speaks both of people who were very aware of the differences among them and those who tried to
bridge these differences. Can you identify such people in the text?

Narrate two incidents that show how differences can be created, and also how they can be resolved. How can
people change their attitudes?

Answer:

The author talks about the people who belong to various castes and follow various religious preachings. Yes, these
groups were easily identifiable. Their dressing, traditions, culture and rituals were different.

They did share their personal experiences and friendships. Lakshmana Sastry summoned the teacher who separated
the author and his friend in the class and told him that he should not spread the poison of social inequality and
communal intolerance in the minds of innocent children.

The school teacher encouraged communal differences and Lakshmana Sastry and Sivasubramania Iyer discouraged
this malpractice.

The influential people can do both the things. A teacher has the ability to bridge communal differences and can play
with sentiments of the innocent and ignorant people. This is what the new teacher did. But the Science teacher
Sivasubramania Iyer changed his wife’s attitude and showed her the right path.

Question 2.

A) Why did Abdul Kalam want to leave Rameswaram?

B) What did his father say to this?
C) What do you think his words mean? Why do you think he spoke those words?

Answer:

A) Abdul Kalam wanted to leave Rameswaram to study at the district headquarters in Ramanathapuram.
B) His father said that he knew he had to go away to grow. He gave the example of a seagull and said that a
seagull flies across the sun alone and without a nest.
C) He spoke these words because he intended to hone his skills. He knew the harsh reality of life that children
may have to live far from their parents to make their career and earn their livelihood. So he showed his
wisdom and intelligence in uttering these words.