HYDERABAD : "India will enter the next century as a "missile power" and have its own satellite in geostationary orbit 36.000 km up away in space" says the father of modern Indian Rocketry APJ Abdul Kalam.
"Even though the world my not be seeing India's full potential or feel its full power. No one dare ignore it any more as the nation has reached a stage where she has the option of preventing wars involving her. affirms Kalam in his recent autobiography 'wings of fire'.
Coming at a time when India's technological endeavours have been questioned by several powerful countries, "wings of fire" is a story of not just Kalam's personal triumphs out the successes and setbacks of scientific establishments in modern India and its quest for scientific self sufficiency.
Justifying India's stand of opting for strategic missiles. Kalam writes, the bitter experience of 1962 forced India, the land where Buddha and Gandhi preached non-violence, to take some basic steps towards missile development.
Undeterred by the abortion of slv-3 during its first launch, the team of self-trained scientists who were earlier referred to as a group of eccentric inventors in pursuit of an impossible dream, hit the bulls eye in July 1980 to launch India into the limited group of nations possessing satellite launch capability.
With visionaries like Prof Vikram Sarabhai and due political patronage. Indian space research graduated from single laboratory projects to multi laboratory programmes to laboratory-industry exercises giving shape to the integrated guided missile development programme (IGMDP) and taking it to its logical end with the test firing of five missiles within ten years.
The missile mastermind, who was bestowed the highest
civilian award Bharat Kama, makes a special mention about his pet project agni, terming its launch in may 1989 as a perfect. text book trajectory and pens a small poem which reads:
Do not look at agni/as an entity directed upward/ to deter the ominous/ or exhibit your might:/ it is fire/ in the heart of an Indian. Do not give it/ the form of a missile/ as it clings to the/ burning pride of this nation/ and thus is bright.
From his childhood days in temple town of rameshwaram to the launch of strategic "agni" missile at Sriharikota. Kalam transports the reader into the matrix of his memories laden with ecstacy and gloom, hope and despair. Nostalgia and prospect, religious fervour and scientific temper.
After being rejected by the selection board as air force pilot. The young aeronautics engineer APJ Abdul Kalam rewrote his destiny by building the nation's first ever hovercraft "nandi” and propelled India as. world class missile power with sheer hard work and commitment.
The 180-page paperback edition of "wings of fire", compiled with the help of junior colleague Arun Tiwari, tells how the little shy child Abdul Kalam. born into a devout Muslim family in Rameshwaram in 1931 moved closely with an orthodox high priest family of Paksh Lakshminaryana and started his experiments in space technology at St Mary Magdalene Church in Thumba in Kerala in 1962.
'The prayer room was my first laboratory, the Bishop's room was my design and drawing office. Even today the church is maintained is in its full glory and houses Indian space museum, writes Kalam on Thumba equatorial rocket launching station.'
In early chapters, Kalani recalls his childhood, his attachment to his ancestrial house in mosque street, the single meals on a banana leaf served by-his mother.
His brief stint as a newspaper boy to supplement the family income and sister Zohara's sacrifice of mortgaging her ornaments to fund Kalam's higher studies. As also the encouragement he received from teachers from school level to St Joseph College in Trichy.
Kalam leamt the intricacies of aero-dynamics at Madras institute of technology (MIT) from Prof Sponder. an Austrian Survivor of the Nazi concentration camps during second world war. At that time mit was headed by Dr Kurt Tank who designed the German single seater combat fighter plane.
As a college student Kalam won a prize for his article let us make our own aircraft, in a Tamil weekly Ananda Vikatan and went on to interact with wernher von braun. who made the lethal V-2 missiles that devastated London in Second World War.
Braun, who became the cult figure in America after creating the saturn rocket in apollo missiori which put man on moon advised Kalam ... we don't just build on successes, we also build on failures when SLV-3 was first aborted.
Commenting on his association with prime ministers Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi who gave him the necessary support in carrying out the missile programmes. Kalam writes Madame Gandhi's personality was that of a taskmaster while Rajiv had a Charisma which could charm anybody into accomplishing the results.
His interaction with defence ministers starting from Krishna Menon, who was his passenger and guest in the nation's first hovercraft, to R Venkataraman and SB Chavan -also find prominent place in the book.
From the young MIT graduate joining directorate 0! technical development and production as senior scientific assistant in 1958 with a monthly pay of RS 250 till heading the igmdp. the book records the career of Kalam and the nation's progress in defence research
with authenticity and a splash of quotes from holy books and celebrated poetry from across the world.
In an interesting anecdote during his brief stint in us studying earth orbiting science at national aeronautical space agency (NASA). Kalam's attention was drawn by a painting of mysore warrior Tipu Sultan glorified as a hero of rocketry warfare while fighting the British.
'The development of Indian rockets in 20th century can be seen as a revival of 18th century dream of Tipu Sultan", says Kalam and pursues his argument, "when Tipu was killed British captured more than 700 rockets and subsystems of 900 rockets a the battle of Tipu Khanahally in 1979".
These rockets, Kalam contends, were taken to England by William congreve and were subjected to what we call "reverse engineering" today.
"With the death of Tipu. Indian rocketry also met its demise at least for 150 years, he laments.
Carrying the bloodline in his full name starting with his great grandfather Avul, grandfather Pakir. father Jainulabdeen it would end with Abdul Kalam, says the confirmed bachelor. He recalls only former chief election commissioner T N Seshan always calling him by his full name Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam.
The premature death of his maiden "nandi" hovercraft project appears to have cut a deep scar in the scientists' mind as he writes, running into controversies. nandi project was shelved. Even today we import hover crafts. I believed that sky was the limit, but it appeared that limits were much closer.
Nevertheless battling his own disappointments for a^on-doned projects and failures, Kalam concludes with a hope that India would emerge as a missile power and its supremacy would be recognised world over.
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