Oct 06, 2008 11:09 PM
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The autobiography of Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, India’s great Rocket Engineer, has been brought to the world by the efforts of Mr Arun Tiwari a junior colleague of Dr Kalam and himself a scientist of substance. According to him, "writing this book has been like a pilgrimage."
Introduction by Dr Kalam has this message, “We are all born with a divine fire in us. Our efforts should be to give wings to this fire and fill the world with glow of its goodness.”
The autobiography has been organized into four sections: Orientation (1931-1963), Creation (1963-1980), Propitiation (1981-1991) and Contemplation (1991-2001).
ORIENTATION :This section describes the early childhood of Dr Kalam in Rameswaram, with specific mention to communal harmony in the form of his friendship with the high priest of the Rameshwaram Temple as also the transformation of his Brahmin teacher’s wife, who first refused to serve him food but next time did so. It also brings out the humble bearings of Kalam who earned his first money by distributing newspapers.
He describes his loving family members and friends who sacrificed readily for him, as also about devoted and inspirational teachers at schools & college.
The section continues with Kalam’s education of Aeronautical Engineering because of his dream of flying and his rejection in Air Force selection interview. He took up the next job offer in Directorate of Technical Development & Production (Air) where he developed the first Hovercraft for Army, which was never put to production.
The section brings out the great optimism of Dr Kalam, who took up projects from scratch to successful culmination. However, it also brings out the fact thatbureaucracy kills innovation. In this section Dr Kalam has introduced the personality of Dr Vikram Sarabhai, father of Indian Space Programme and brought out the finest qualities of that great man and how they influenced Kalam.
CREATION :This section describes Kalam managing and inspiring large scale developmental projects on rocket technology, culminating in the pioneering success of the Satellite Launch Vehicle, the fifth country to achieve satellite launching capability, and thus propelling India into the Space Age.
He is seen as engineer and innovator, inspirer and mentor of courageous colleagues, and builder of teams and institutions. This also brought Kalam his first brush with fame, adulation and inevitably, professional rivalries due to jealousy.
This section brings out Kalam’s faith in Indian Rocketry thru a painting he saw at the NASA Maryland Flight Centre, which depicted Tipu Sultan’s army using rockets. He was intrigued to find USA recognizing the fact which was forgotten in India. He also describes Tipu’s rockets being taken away by British in 1799 to do reverse engineering.
PROPITIATION :Kalam going into the defence stage of his career, breathing fresh life into struggling research institutions under the Defence R & D Organisation, and later taking charge of all the D R D O establishments, helping India to acquire modern weaponry and delivery systems. If the "creation" phase was marked by the SLV-3 saga, this phase had the Agni and related missile programmes as the defining theme.
CONTEMPLATION : The nation conferred its highest awards on him. He gives credit to themany great visionaries who prepared him for life, especially Professors Sarabhai, Dhawan and Brahm Prakash. He ends the book with the fervent prayer that eventually the country will become strong, prosperous and "developed".
The books’ most remarkable feature is relationship of unwavering spirituality and staunch scientific temper within Kalam, which took him to the highest honours in his field. His qualities of humility and patience strikes you with his thought "When you are the anvil - bear; when you are the hammer - strike", which has made me medidate it like the Gayatri Mantra in testing times of my career.
