A page from personal diary of Ankit Bathla Meeting and dining with our former President Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam was a memorable moment for me. I was in my eleventh class when a charity organization that is funded by NRIs came to our school for a charity drive. This organisation takes care of orphans where they are provided a home. In fact not just a home but they are given a home with a mother! They live together like a family. Not just this when these children grow up they also help them get married. Since this drive was happening in my school and being the head boy it was my responsibility to spearhead the collection drive. I did collect the money from my school but I felt like taking the drive a little further by going to other schools too. Hence I went to many other schools and this led to a huge contribution for that organisation. For my outstanding work I was given an opportunity to meet and dine with Abdul Kalam ji. I was invited to the Rashtrapati Bhavan and it was an honour to be there. When I reached there the President’s security escorted me to him. I had lunch with him on a dining table that could seat 250 people. Later we had a walk in the garden where I told him about our organization and he was so impressed with it that he wanted to make it a government organization. Sadly I had to decline his proposal as turning it into a government organisation would just lead to more corruption and he did understand my concern. And before I left he gifted me a book called The Mystic Lives. He also wrote a verse on the front page of the book and personally autographed it. This gesture touched me so much that for days after that I kept opening the book to read the first page! After meeting the President I did go to the schools that had helped us in our charity drive to give them appreciation certificates. Post this along with the Head boys of all the schools that had helped us I went to these villages run by this organization with toys for the children there. We spent a day playing with these kids. It was great to see the smile on their faces.