On Tuesday morning, there was an eerie silence at the sprawling IIM-Shillong campus.
He wore his trademark Kalam suit and there were smiles all around. But he had only begun his lecture at the Indian Institute of Management or IIM, Shillong, when former President APJ Abdul Kalam fainted and fell.
Many students followed as he was rushed in an ambulance to the nearby Bethany Hospital, only to learn that the People's President had died.
On Tuesday morning, there was an eerie silence at the sprawling campus on the outskirts of Meghalaya's capital. The weather reflected the gloom. Not a single student at IIM Shillong had been able to eat since Dr Kalam's collapse, they said. They could hardly sleep last night either.
"He started his lecture and was in the middle of a sentence, had barely spoken two sentences, and he collapsed," said a woman student, adding, "We did not have the opportunity to hear the full lecture."
Dr Kalam had been to the Shillong IIM campus twice before and there was much excitement on Monday; he was to address second year students of the B-school on "Creating a Liveable Planet."
"For many of us he was a role model in many ways...it was a big moment for all of us, a big opportunity," said another student. Seniors, the students said, had described how wonderful the experience of interacting with Dr Kalam was. "They had told us that we should not miss this opportunity. We were overjoyed to see him. Suddenly this happened," a student said.
Dr Kalam's lecture was to have been part of a three-day series on ways to make India an economically developed nation. The former President wanted the students to submit proposals for projects after his lecture.
Apart from IIM Shillong, Dr Kalam was also a visiting faculty at IIM Ahmedabad. He had lasted visited the Shillong institute on March 6 this year.