"One fine day he said, Kalam you can take the budget you want, the number of people want and anything needed I will get it sanctioned from the cabinet, but you have to do this.
"I was surprised and confused, there were many people senior to me in my establishment. Why me? Will I be able to do it? I was doubtful. You should not be," the 83-year-old scientist told youngsters who thronged the Diggi Place here to hear his address at the ongoing Jaipur Literature Festival.
"I always dreamt of being a pilot, so I enrolled myself into a course of aeronautical engineering. When I went before the selection panel to become a pilot, there were 10 contestants and 9 seats and I was the one to be dropped.
"I was disheartened that I could not become a pilot but I became the President of India!," Kalam said during a session titled 'The visionary: Dr APJ Abdul Kalam'.
"When I became the President I told the Air Chief to teach me how to fly and he trained me for six months. I did not become a pilot but I could still fulfil my dream of flying, because I dreamt that I will fly. Dreams transform into thoughts and thoughts result into action!," he said, as the crowd burst into a large round of applause.
"When there is righteousness in the heart there is a beauty in the character...When there is beauty in the character there is already in the home...When there is already in the home there is order in the nation and when there is order in the nation there is peace in the world...," he said as people repeated after him.
"Take a vow...That whatever you do in life you will always think what I can give. All the trouble starts when we think 'what I can get' , that's where the roots of corruption are," he said.