Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam was born to a Tamil family from Rameswaram on 15 October, 1931. Rameswaram was then part of the Madras Presidency in British India but it is now in Tamil Nadu. His father’s name was Jainulabdeen, who was a boat owner and imam of a local mosque. His mother was Ashiamma, a housewife.
Abdul Kalam was the youngest of five siblings. His eldest sibling was his sister Asim Zohra. He had three elder brothers, namely Mohammed Muthu Meera Lebbai Maraikayar, Mustafa Kalam and Kasim Mohammed. He was close to his family and always helped them while remaining a bachelor his whole life.
His ancestors were wealthy traders and landowners, who owned numerous properties and large areas of land. They traded groceries between the mainland and the Pamban Island and between the island and Sri Lanka. They also ferried the pilgrims from the mainland to the Pamban Island. This tradition earned their family the title “Mara Kalam lyakkivar” (wooden boat steerers), to be later known as “Maraikayar.”
Unfortunately, in the 1920s, his family lost most of its fortune, and by the time Kalam was born, the family was poverty-stricken.
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