Tamil Nadu - Coimbatore   

They were eager listeners

M. Soundariya Preetha

COIMBATORE: Long and thunderous applause from over 6,000 students of ten schools and 16 colleges in and around Coimbatore welcomed President APJ Abdul Kalam as he came to address them at an interactive session that had been jointly organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry and Young Indians as part of their Integrity India campaign here on Tuesday.

Rapt attention

And, from then on it was almost 50 minutes of rapt attention as the President asked questions, cited some significant instances from the life of eminent personalities, answered select questions and even asked the students to email him on "What I can give" as the New Year (2007) draws near.

Thirukkural

The President started off with a couplet from Thirukkural, asking the students to repeat and then asked how many of them aspired to become engineers, scientists, doctors, entrepreneurs, administrators or politicians.

He also asked those assembled in front of him, "How many of you want to go to Mars?"

Autobiography

Quoting incidents from the life of Nelson Mandela, he urged the students to read Mr. Mandela's autobiography, `Long Walk to Freedom'.

Speaking about vision, he pointed out that some students had raised their hands when he had asked how many of them wanted to become entrepreneurs.

Employment generators

"The youth of Coimbatore are not employment seekers, they are employment generators," he observed.

After the curtains came down on the inaugural, the President walked down the dais towards the children, waved and interacted with them before exiting the venue.

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