To Dr Kalam, with love

There would probably be no Indian who hasn’t been inspired by our late president Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam. Apart from the contributions he’s made in science, he was liked for his humble nature and genuineness. To commemorate his second death anniversary, a group of 100 artists from the transgender, tribal and Dalit communities came together and handcrafted their dreams on simple postcards, inspired by the life and words of Kalam. 

There were no rules for designing the postcards. As the organisers put it, “Postcard is the canvas and the sky's the limit.” One of the postcards has a girl holding an umbrella sketched in pencil with a caption that says, “Waiting for the rain of dreams to fall.” This is only one among the many postcards designed by these artists that exactly qualify the motive of the workshop — to depict their dreams for themselves, for the community, society and country.

The event, which was organised in collaboration with a Kochi-based NGO, was part of ‘Dear Kalam Sir’ – the very popular community-art project that is all set to be the world’s largest ever handwritten postcard tribute campaign for a public leader. The selected cards will soon be displayed on the ‘dearkalamsir’ website, national exhibits, and various social media platforms.

Expressing joy in collaborating with the event, Jubie John, co-founder of the NGO Letter Farms, says, “It is indeed a proud feeling to engage with our fellow citizens from a special community.  Empowerment is not the only message, but so is making their dreams and aspirations a part of our great nation called India.”

The workshop also intended to show that the dreams of every Indian, irrespective of their gender, matters when it comes to making a nation big.