Answer these questions in one or two sentences each.

1. Where was Abdul Kalam’s house?

2. What do you think Dinamani is the name of? Give a reason for your answer.

3. Who were Abdul Kalam’s school friends? What did they later become?

4. How did Abdul Kalam earn his first wages?

5. Had he earned any money before that? In what way?

1. Abdul Kalam’s house was on the Mosque Street in Rameswaram in the former Madras state.

2. Dinamani could be the name of a newspaper because Abdul Kalam used to try to trace the stories of the Second World War, which his brother-in-law told him, in the headlines in Dinamani.

3. Abdul Kalam had three close friends in school – Ramanandha Sastry, Aravindan and Sivaprakasan. Ramanandha Sastry took over the priesthood of the Rameswaram temple from his father; Aravindan started a business of arranging transport for visiting pilgrims; and Sivaprakasan became a catering contractor for the Southern Railways.

4. During the Second World War, the newspapers were bundled and thrown out of a moving train. Abdul Kalam earned his first wages by helping his cousin, who distributed newspapers in Rameswaram, to catch these bundles.

5. Yes, Abdul Kalam had earned some money before he started helping his cousin. He used to collect and sell tamarind seeds at a provision shop, during the Second World War, earning one anna for a day’s collection.

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