President Kalam pens poem in honour of Julius Nyerere

Dar-e-Salaam: Observing that India and Tanzania have a common meeting point to exchange ideas for the benefit of the humanity, President A P J Abdul Kalam today (Sep 13, 2004) penned a poem in honour of Julius Nyerere, a leading light in the fight for African liberation and African unity.

Narrating his visit to Tanzania, he said when he flew over Mumbai he saw the Indian Ocean waves touching the shores and when he flew over Dar-e-Salaam he saw the Indian Ocean embracing this country's shores, thus uniting both the countries.

Titled "I am the Indian Ocean", the poem reads like this:

"Surge of my waves and their mystical themes
Embracing Bombay and Dar-es in hold.
We all belong to the cradle of earth
Same human civilization pervades us all
Generations of life in these lands were like waves
Rising and falling and melting in time
Baobabs and Banyans stood witness to these cycles.

"Bondage of slavery and foreigners yoke,
Are gone with the past and power now to people.
Gandhiji and Nyerere's nobility and soul strength
Got thy the freedom, and now you have a mission.
'Englightened youths now you have to sweat
For making thy people prosperous and happy'
For ye are the greatest hope, for this part of globe."

Kalam said that Nyerere's missionary zeal in transforming the life of Africans in the materialistic and the spiritual world was worthy of emulation.

"I salute this great personality," he said addressing the distinguished citizens at the Mwalimu Nyerere Foundation.

Stressing the importance of becoming enlightened citizen, Kalam said that he had visited many religious places and exchanged ideas with religious leaders and that religions were beautiful gardens, enchanting islets and veritable oases for the soul and the spirit.

"If we can connect all these islands with love and compassion, in a 'garland project' for the new millennium, we will have a prosperous nation in front of us," he said.

The President said that a large percentage of people below 25 years of age wanted peace, prosperity, happiness and safety and Foundations like Mwalimu Nyerere Foundation should carry out the missions.

He said working intensively in five key areas -- agriculture and food processing, education and healthcare, information and communication technology, infrastructure development including networking of rivers and providing urban amenities in rural areas -- could be a road map for achieving the task.

PTI