After the lectures, he would often ask students to write to him and he did not fail to respond to many messages that he got.
For his contribution to the missile programme, he was awarded with Bharat Ratna, the highest civilian award in 1997. He was also awarded Padma Bhushan in 1981 and Padma Vibhushan in 1990.
Post-presidency, Kalam worked as a visiting professor at Indian Institute of Management Shillong, Ahmedabad and Indore and several research and academic insitutions across the country and world.
He authored several books with the ‘Wings of Fire', ‘India 2020' and ‘Ignited Minds' being the most read best-sellers. Kalam's father owned boats which he rented out to local fishermen, but he himself began his career as a newspaper vendor.
