This refers to the sad news of the Indian scientist’s sudden death. (Former Indian President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam dies,” July 28)

An era has come to an end. Abdul Kalam will always be remembered as a person of great spiritual values with scientific approach to country’s progress and for his contribution to the development of rocket technology.

It will be more appropriate to call Kalam as “people’s president,” who was a rare combination of science, education and morality. Kalam’s work gave humanity a reason for hope and his handshakes at public school functions gave humanity a reason to love.

The scientist was bestowed with several national and international awards including the country’s highest civilian honor, Bharat Ratna, in 1997.

The world is short of great statesmen, the likes of which we have witnessed in Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Mahatma Gandhi and Gamal Abdul Nasser.

Kalam’s demise is not just the loss of a nation, but that of the whole world. He has left behind a great and an everlasting legacy, which will be a source of inspiration for generations to come.

A man of action par excellence, his death has left a void in the nation’s public life, which can’t be filled for ages to come.