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[Music] this podcast is brought to you by India
knowledge at Wharton please visit knowledge
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Wharton upendi D u / India for more information
[Music] India imagine was the theme of the 2008
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Wharton India Economic Forum that was held
in Philadelphia recently the day-long event
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attracted several leaders including APJ Abdul
Kalam former President of India as well as CEOs
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of Indian companies nonprofit groups consulting
and private equity firms Indian knowledge at
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Wharton brings you one-on-one conversations
with these leaders today be honored to have
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the former President of India president APJ Abdul
Kalam to speak with us president Kalam thank you
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so much for joining us today I would happy to
be with happy to be with Wharton yes since our
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publication is called knowledge at Wharton I
wonder if you could tell us something about
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knowledge well I designed a four line 4 line poem
like thing called creativity I would have made at
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least million children true Peter took a million
children repeat I would say and they will repeat
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it so I am going to tell you say a few words
about creativity learning learning use creativity
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creativity leads to thinking thinking provides
knowledge knowledge makes you great so I'm very
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happy Vartan you are thinking of knowledge at
Wharton it is a beautiful idea my greetings to
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all of you I wonder if you could start by talking
about your past you were born in Rameshwaram in
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1931 what are the biggest differences you see
between India as it was then and India today
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well I have orbited around the Sun 76 times you
know what it means you're 76 years old correctly
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I said you did so in that 76 period I have seen
and when I was a young boy the Second World War
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coming to an end and then I saw the effect of
war and injuries healing I saw India attained the
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freedom 9 to 15 when I was a schoolboy I saw 15
1947 August 15 1947 India achieved its freedom it
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was a great happy moment I was seen the economic
center faced in India 1991-92 Asin face started
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till then we were a lot of difficulties I worked
with the visionaries like process vikram sarabhai
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and this darwin dr. Braam Prakash I have seen a
green revolution I have seen white revolution as
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in telecom revolution and growth of ICT there
is the information communication technology
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and our person MBI was involved India's space
program it's one of our most active program in
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the country and self-sufficiency in the static
weaponry you just spoke about your involvement
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with India's rocket program in fact I know that
you were also very involved with India's missile
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program and that you earned the nickname the
missile man of India could you please tell us
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about that experience and what the what were the
main lessons you learned well it is like this I
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woke to engage space to such organization for
about 20 years there early we achieved putting
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a satellite in the orbit building for stage
rocket system then I took up the integrated a
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guided missile program with my team ie means the
team and youthful teams were fortunately where my
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team members and they have worked together and we
have a great value addition because the youth you
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would be youth power and the program particularly
such a strategic missile program succeeded and the
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most important area is human resource development
so the programmer and safe hands now I learnt the
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one of the important thing in this programs both
space program cell program we should know how to
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handle the not only how to handle the success
how to handle the failures particularly you are
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in the management environment we water it I want
the young people to understand how to manage the
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failure because any task you do you have to
come across problem problem should not become
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the captain of the individual or a project chief
and the project chief should become the captain of
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the problems and defeat the problem and succeed
so this is what I have learned you played a key
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role in India's nuclear program in 1998 could
you tell us a little bit about that well the
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main lesson I learned was how multiple technical
teams and multiple departments of Government of
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India could work together with the industrial
partnership with industrial partnership that
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is our unique thing how many many people came
what many teams can work together get things
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done as a national need but this is a is the big
experience I'd gained you are known to be a deeply
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spiritual person have you ever felt guilty or
conflicted about developing nuclear weapons why
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or why not I realized that for my country's
development PCC essential piece comes out of
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strength strength respect the strength piece and
that is how weaponized missiles were born so the
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only strength you need minimum strength to keep
the nation peaceful and so that you can enter
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into the necessary developmental missions
that's how I look at it how did you come
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to become India's president what leadership
qualities do you think are needed to lead a
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country that is so huge so complex and so
chaotic well I won't say chaotic every you
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know that type of order comes out of disorder
okay that is what's happening now I was elected
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as a president of India 2002 2007 yeah I picked
through a very structured the election process
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now the leader not really fertile to become
the president you need to give any political
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leadership or technological leadership you have
to have six traits one leader should have and what
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are the six traits number one leader must have a
vision without ambition he will not be a leader he
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or she so leader must have ambition the second one
leader must be able to travel he didn't tie into
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an unexplored paths normally tendency to travel
that you know well well laid out a path but the
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leader he takes a path of an traveled path third
thing leader must know how to manage success most
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importantly the failure any mission he does or
she does say yes to go through some failure they
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should know how to manage the failures could you
give us an example from your own experience about
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managing failure well my own experience like this
1973 I was I was became the project director for
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satellite launch vehicle program slv-3 just got
to put her Oh any satellite that beat by 1980 oh
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when the management structure I was given money
a was given yeah and then human power I was given
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only they said by 1980 you must put the satellite
in orbit making a rocket so thousands of people
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work for that say a scientific technical team so
when the time came 1979 I think it's an August
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we launched I was in the present director
project director I was the control center
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I was the mission director we handed over to the
computer to do the process of checking the launch
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vehicle t-minus four minutes and launch it after
one meeting the computer check out computer put a
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hold there for some reasons they said display one
there it had some some component is not doing well
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control component my experts told me I helped us
always behind me four or five experts to be there
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and they quickly calculated in computer they
told me don't worry there is a lot of reserve
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purely there we will succeed so I went i bypassed
the computer I went on manual launch the rocket
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system okay and it supposed a doctor first it work
beautifully as soon the circuit state separated
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they got into trouble in some satellite going
the arbitral the whole rocket system went into
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Bay of Bengal okay so it was a big failure so
that day Oh Indian Space Research art Nev Pro
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Satish Dhawan there's a press card seven o'clock
we launched 7:45 there's a press conference is
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there in Solaris caught up at launch base so I
still remember the chairman of the organization
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the leader of the organization taking the press
conference I was by his side he said we have
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the failed first time we tried to attempted and
this failure really makes us to believe we have
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to give more technological support my team and
they worked very hard definitely in a year they
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will succeed so I was a mission director I was a
project director I am responsible for the failure
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and he took the responsibility of failure as a
chairman of the organization and then created
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the organization next year 1980 July we succeeded
the whole nation was jubilant there was a press
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conference press of this novel told me you go take
the press conference okay the message is when the
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failure occurred the leader of the organization
warned the leader were failure when the success
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gave me guilty steam that the best management to
principle I have not learned previously any book
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so not taught me I learned from that experience
okay that's a beautiful story thank you very much
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for sharing next one the fourth point leader
must have a courage to take decision that's
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a problem today throughout the world leader must
have a correct to take division fifth one leader
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should have a nobility in management main nobility
and management a big question mark so I believe
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leaders should have an ability management your
free action of the leader should be transparent
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you know what I mean you said you're very that
is leader should work with integrity and succeed
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with integrity leader to work with integrity and
succeed when they're decorative and I believe
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president since you asked the question has to
be continuously in touch with the people rush
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to the woman where their eyes I was there became a
people spell constructs over the women it becomes
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people Superman and also I travel into told state
cutting across Hill deserts and see I was in touch
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with millions and millions of people you had a
vision for India in 2020 it was that gradually
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the differences between the countryside and the
cities would disappear could you please explain
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your concept of the pure and how that leads to
this transformation I'm glad your your father
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steadied may have said and I have we explained the
pure concept in the key note address I'm going to
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do it today briefly Pro is about giving a clusterf
religious physical electronic and knowledge
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connectivity so that the economic connectivity can
emerge we plant about 7,000 prosper whole Nations
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and it called Hill para coastal Peru and playing
pro and this we believed this system the pro
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system will bring the economic activity that means
the employment the generation potential increases
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and the I believe through pure abhi we are saying
and the employment generation capacity empowering
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the people for employment he is indeed very vital
in the rural environment so that prosperity when
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he emerged you have spoken about the need for
India to become energy independent by the year
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2030 how would that happen I you know today
all of our fossil filled dominating the energy
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sector throughout the world the world Energy Forum
predicts another five to eight decades the fossil
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fuel will vanish because it is not a renewable
so I have given to my country what is called
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the energy independence is a three dimensional
force number one you go for solar power now solar
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power with the solar cell efficiency today 15-20
percent is not economical so I have suggested we
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should go for the see in the carbon nanotube
composite combination that the efficiency will
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go up the solar cell efficiency will go up in
the CNT background know 45 to 55 percent many
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of the research institution are busy in three to
five years time is going to come so fast in solar
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power source second is in nuclear power since we
have got a thorium abundant thorium-based nuclear
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reactors definitely is one of the clean solution
for the second area third year the bio bio fuel
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one is say ethanol route another this biodiesel
a jet of our route this combination all the three
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and definitely will will give a freedom from the
from the the fossil fuel and also it going to
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have an environment clean environment because the
fossil fuel the cars what you drive here in water
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what you drive in Philadelphia what we drive
in India water in New York what we dry eye in
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London or 30 billion tons of carbon dioxide we are
public so to come out of date energy independence
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technology plays an important role in your vision
for India's future how do social grids help make
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India a developed country so what I believe
is called suicidal grid societal greeny has
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got three grids one is pure grit and the another
eagerness grid has helped in it the idea is that
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knowledge greedy empower stop and empowers the
the village citizens with skill and knowledge
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help grid brings the super speciality health
care available in the city to the doorstep of
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the rural citizens we governance grid another grid
is called ego yayi Ghana's grid brings transparent
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governance is very important but transparent
governance to a citizen and also all these four
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grids the economic it will lead to economic growth
and societal transformation because communication
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or in all areas are available during your years as
India's president what was the biggest leadership
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challenge you faced and how did you overcome it
well first time I had to return return what is
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called office of profit bill to the Parliament for
the reason I felt that there was a no transparent
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system of determining your post as an office
of profit or not so that is a major decision
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because nobody nope know it first time I happen
to study that I have to I have to return you to
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the Parliament for reconsideration it created its
own dynamics in my country but I finally I felt I
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learnt the right thing there if you could rewind
and replay the years of your presidency is there
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anything that you would do differently is there
anything that you would have liked to do that you
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weren't able to yeah I last you know last year I
come up come up with the idea after finishing my
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four years term I put the ad time starting at
that time I felt I must completely power the
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Rashtrapati Bhawan with solar code and the fact
that I a big proposal also emerged and but then
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we create a lot of universal questions trust me
the world is a very clean environment with a lot
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of trees flowers and biodiversity centers so the
environmental people they raise a lot of questions
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before I answer my term was over so over that's
one one of the requirements that is lost over the
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woman should be a first home in the in the country
electrified by solar power one last question you
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are a gifted poet could you please recite some
lines of your favorite poem for us I remember
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the favorite poem with the bishop the bishop I
recited this poem in my Parliament so I will share
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with you the poem goes like that their name is the
vision I climbed and climbed very the peak my lord
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I climbed and climbed where is the peak my lord I
plowed and blowed very the knowledge treasure my
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lord I plowed and plowed very the knowledge
treasure my lord I sailed and sailed very
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the island of peace my lord I sailed and sailed
very the island of peace my lord almighty bless
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my nation with vision and but resulting in two
happiness resulting in happiness thank you very
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much it's been an honor speaking with you thank
you for all the beautiful question my greetings to
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water for more information please visit knowledge
Wharton UPenn dot edu slash India [Music]
