Man, unlike
any other thing organic or inorganic in the universe, grows beyond his work,
walks up the stairs of his concepts, emerges ahead of his accomplishments.
-John Stenback,[ Nobel Laureate (1902-1968)]
It was 27th
of July 2015. Just another day in office and like many others, I was glued to
my chair, stressing over numbers which appeared on screen and against that
screen was my boss’s desk which was empty today. My Boss’s daughter was about
to turn one year old and to celebrate the moment he had went to Kolkata, at his
family. Before leaving he allotted me some work. Some, since as compared to
my earlier work profile, this was my breakfast. Nonetheless I preferred to
be glued to my chair and double-check everything meticulously since I was new in
the organization.
I wanted my
papers to be fine as a polished gem. And
that is not because I am naive over here. Though the reason to do so definitely
includes some percentage of making a good impression. But my need to be good
with paper is not just restricted to making sense out of data, comparing the
numbers and arriving at cost and benefit analysis. Hell no!
What I have
learned is, may it be the Dark ages or The Renaissance or may it be the age of
enlightenment, it’s ultimately the paper which speaks for you. Otherwise,
perhaps we might have not even heard of the very existence of those times and
people. Myth would have become synonym for history. And even though on a
broader level we tend to ignore the lesson s from history, but the absence of
it on paper with thoughts written all over, would have definitely kept us
unaware of our own experiences, moralities and knowledge.
This fragile
thing with its capillaries when soaks ink; it makes the minds immortal and
alive in the shelves.
And as I tried to
make a good impression, believing in my own theory, I formatted the report well
and did a final review holding my little figures just above the print
command. And as I was about to punch the key combination, my phone started
vibrating heavily. That usually happens when your friends floods messages in
your watsapp group. By my one hand I lifted my phone. Not for reading the messages
but to delete the conversation and turn off the notifications.
As I swiped to
unlock the screen, instead of deleting the conversation, I was both
surprised and repelled by the news that they were posting in group.
It was about
death of Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam.
Few minutes back there was another
notification from a news application that he was rushed to the hospital and I was
hoping that he will come out fine but God had a different plan.
When I looked
up, around me, everybody’s head was bowed down towards their phone reading the
news and one was able to feel the tremendous echo of silence in the room.
Now the damage
was irretrievably done. It can neither be rectified nor can be compensated for.
But I really want him to remain as an immortal mind. But how?
By making
monuments? Songs? News stories? What can we really do to honor a man, pay
tribute to him, who asked us to work a day more instead of taking holiday on
his death? What treatment will justify his nonparallel sacrifice, immense
intellect, tremendous hard work and inspiring patriotism?
A man who truly
made us Indians learn about secularism.
I really want to
know how can we keep the bricks of the foundations, that he had gifted us,
strong enough to stand against the mighty winds of time and upon which, create
a humongous structure of knowledge and justice?
Honestly I don’t
know. I find myself to be too naïve to comprehend such reflections by the
people throughout history. That is to say, we have corrupted the most divine of
us human beings, obviously not on an instant basis but gradually. As I said,
the mighty wind of time brings changes and those changes never restrict
themselves to the tangibles but exceeds to the extent of altering the
intangibles too. Bending them. Molding them differently by unimaginable
interpretations and pouring nothing out of the hollow vase of ignorance and
notions.
But, even though
how inexperienced and hesitant I may be, at least I can ask readers to give
‘wings of fire’ a try. And don’t just read it and end the cycle there. On the
other hand what we can do is also ask the younger kids to give it a read as
well. Let’s try to make it the one book every Indian should read.
I feel, in that
way, by reading what Mr. Kalam really had to say and what vision he was
carrying, it will definitely struck a chord in every reader’s inner psyche. And
I never undermine the power of paper and ink. In this way we can keep the promise
alive in everyone’s heart. By recalling the words he spoke. That is what we do
while following our individual religions.
'Reading the words of God and of
messengers, over and over'.
That is how we remind ourselves of the great promises.
However, there is one very important thing. My friends usually say
they don’t have time to even eat properly and here I am asking people to read a complete
book. Well, in order to help such fellows, I am putting some of my favorite
sentences from ‘wings of fire’. And don’t worry about the report that I had to
prepare, told you it’s like breakfast for me!
-------------
In this period of
confusion and uncertainty,
memories from my
childhood came back to me and I
discovered new meanings
in them.
---------------
As the Bible says, “Ask
and you shall
receive.”
--------------
….reminded myself that
the best way to win was to not
need to win. The best
performances are accomplished
when you are relaxed
and free of doubt. I decided to take
things as they came
---------------
There was
none of the arrogance
or the patronising attitudes which
interviewers usually
display when talking to a young and
vulnerable candidate
(When Mr. Kalam was
interviewed, he wrote down how nicely it was taken and what impact it created
on him)
---------------
One of the important
functions of prayer, I believe, is to
act as a stimulus to
creative ideas. Within the mind are all
the resources required
for successful living. Ideas are
present in the
consciousness, which when released and
given scope to grow and
take shape, can lead to
successful events. God,
our Creator, has stored within our
minds and
personalities, great potential strength and
ability. Prayer helps
us to tap and develop these powers.
-----------------------
My impression of the
American people can be
summarized by a
quotation from Benjamin Franklin, “Those
things that hurt
instruct!” I realised that people in this part of
the world meet their
problems head on. They attempt to get
out of them rather than
suffer them.
My mother had once
narrated an incident from the Holy
Book— after God created
man, he asked the angels to
prostrate themselves
before Adam. Everybody prostrated
themselves except
Iblis, or Satan, who refused. “Why did
you not prostrate
yourself?” Allah asked. “You created me
of fire and him of
clay. Does not that make me nobler than
Adam?” Satan contended.
God said, “Be gone from
paradise! This is no
place for your contemptuous pride.”
Satan obeyed, but not
before cursing Adam with the same
fate. Soon Adam
followed suit by becoming a transgressor
after eating the
forbidden fruit. Allah said, “Go hence and
may your descendants
live a life of doubt and mistrust.”
What makes life in
Indian organizations difficult is the
widespread prevalence
of this very contemptuous pride. It
stops us from listening
to our juniors, subordinates and
people down the line.
You cannot expect a person to deliver
results if you
humiliate him, nor can you expect him to be
creative if you abuse
him or despise him. The line between
firmness and harshness,
between strong leadership and
bullying, between discipline
and vindictiveness is very fine,
but it has to be drawn.
Unfortunately, the only line
prominently drawn in
our country today is between the
‘heroes’ and the
‘zeros’. On one side are a few hundred
‘heroes’ keeping nine
hundred and fifty million people down
on the other side. This
situation has to be changed.
--------------------------------------------------------------
The development of
Indian rockets in the twentieth
century can be seen as
a revival of the eighteenth century
dream of Tipu Sultan.
When Tipu Sultan was killed, the
British captured more
than 700 rockets and subsystems of
900 rockets in the
battle of Turukhanahally in 1799. His
army had 27 brigades,
called Kushoons, and each brigade
had a company of rocket
men, called Jourks. These
rockets had been taken
to England by William Congreve
and were subjected by
the British to what we call ‘reverse
engineering’ today.
There were, of course, no GATT, IPR
Act, or patent regime.
With the death of Tipu, Indian
rocketry also met its
demise—at least for 150 years.
------------------------------------------------------------------
I often read Khalil
Gibran, and always find his words full
of wisdom. “Bread baked
without love is a bitter bread that
feeds but half a man’s
hunger,”—those who cannot work
with their hearts
achieve but a hollow, half-hearted success
that breeds bitterness
all around. If you are a writer who
would secretly prefer
to be a lawyer or a doctor, your written
words will feed but
half the hunger of your readers; if you
are a teacher who would
rather be a businessman, your
instructions will meet
but half the need for knowledge of
your students; if you
are a scientist who hates science, your
performance will
satisfy but half the needs of your mission.
The personal
unhappiness and failure to achieve results
that comes from being a
round peg in a square hole is not,
by any means, new. But
there are exceptions to this like
Prof. Oda and Sudhakar,
who bring to their work a personal
touch of magic based
upon their individual character,
personality, inner
motives, and perhaps the dreams
crystallized within
their hearts. They become so emotionally
involved with their
work that any dilution of the success of
their effort fills them
with grief.
Sudhakar was my
colleague in the Payload Preparation
Laboratory. As part of
the pre-launch schedule, we were
filling and remotely
pressing the hazardous sodium and
thermite mix. As usual,
it was a hot and humid day at
Thumba. After the sixth
such operation, Sudhakar and I
went into the payload
room to confirm the proper filling of
the mix. Suddenly, a
drop of sweat from his forehead fell
onto the sodium, and
before we knew what was happening,
there was a violent
explosion which shook the room. For a
few paralysed seconds,
I did not know what to do. The fire
was spreading, and
water would not extinguish the sodium
fire. Trapped in this
inferno, Sudhakar, however, did not
lose his presence of
mind. He broke the glass window with
his bare hands and
literally threw me out to safety before
jumping out himself. I
touched Sudhakar’s bleeding hands
in gratitude, he was
smiling through his pain. Sudhakar
spent many weeks in the
hospital recuperating from the
severe burns he had
received.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
I looked around the
elegant lounge. Somebody had left
a book on a nearby
sofa. As if to fill the small hours of that
cold night with some
warm thoughts, I picked up the book
and started browsing. I
must have turned only a few pages
of the book, about
which I do not remember a thing today.
It was some popular
book related to business
management. I was not
really reading it, only skimming over
paragraphs and turning
pages. Suddenly, my eyes fell on a
passage in the book, it
was a quotation from George
Bernard Shaw. The gist
of the quote was that all
reasonable men adapt
themselves to the world. Only a few
unreasonable ones
persist in trying to adapt the world to
themselves. All
progress in the world depends on these
unreasonable men and
their innovative and often
nonconformist actions.
I started reading the
book from the Bernard Shaw
passage onwards. The
author was describing certain
myths woven around the
concept and the process of
innovation in industry
and business. I read about the myth of
strategic planning. It
is generally believed that substantial
strategic and
technological planning greatly increases the
odds of a ‘no
surprises’ outcome. The author was of the
opinion that it is
essential for a project manager to learn to
live with uncertainty
and ambiguity. He felt that it was a myth
to hold that the key to
economic success is computability. A
quotation from General
George Patton was given as a
counterpoint to this
myth—that a good plan violently
executed right now is
far better than a perfect plan
executed next week. It
is a myth that to win big one must
strive to optimize, the
author felt. Optimization wins only on
paper, but would
invariably lose later in the real world, the
book said.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
One day, while working
late in the office, which was
quite routine after I
took up the RATO projects, I saw a
young colleague, Jaya
Chandra Babu going home. Babu
had joined us a few
months ago and the only thing I knew
about him was that he
had a very positive attitude and was
articulate. I called
him into my office and did a bit of loud
thinking. “Do you have
any suggestions?” I then asked him.
Babu remained silent
for a while, and then asked for time
until the next evening
to do some homework before
answering my question.
The next evening, Babu
came to me before the
appointed time. His
face was beaming with promise. “We
can do it, sir! The
RATO system can be made without
imports. The only
hurdle is the inherent inelasticity in the
approach of the organization
towards procurement and
subcontracting, which
would be the two major thrust areas
to avoid imports.” He
gave me seven points, or, rather,
asked for seven
liberties—financial approval by a single
person instead of an
entire hierarchy, air travel for all
people on work
irrespective of their entitlement,
accountability to only
one person, lifting of goods by aircargo,
sub-contracting to the
private sector, placement of
orders on the basis of
technical competence, and
expeditious accounting
procedures
These demands were
unheard of in government
establishments, which
tend to be conservative, yet I could
see the soundness of
his proposition. The RATO project
was a new game and
there was nothing wrong if it was to
be played with a new
set of rules. I weighed all the pros and
cons of Babu’s
suggestions for a whole night and finally
decided to present them
to Prof. Sarabhai. Hearing my
plea for administrative
liberalization and seeing the merits
behind it, Prof.
Sarabhai approved the proposals without a
second thought.
Through his
suggestions, Babu had highlighted the
importance of business
acumen in developmental work
with high stakes. To
make things move faster within
existing work
parameters, you have to pump in more
people, more material
and more money. If you can’t do that,
change your parameters!
Instinctive businessman that he
was, Babu did not
remain long with us and left ISRO for
greener pastures in
Nigeria. I could never forget Babu’s
common sense in
financial matters.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The pursuit of science
is a combination of great elation
and great despair. I
went over many such episodes in my
mind. Johannes Kepler,
whose three orbital laws form the
basis of space
research, took nearly 17 years after
formulating the two
laws about planetary motion around the
sun, to enunciate his
third law which gives the relation
between the size of the
elliptical orbit and the length of time
it takes for the planet
to go around the sun. How many
failures and
frustrations must he have gone through? The
idea that man could
land on the moon, developed by the
Russian mathematician
Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, was
realised after nearly
four decades—and by the United
States, at that. Prof.
Chandrasekhar had to wait nearly 50
years before receiving
the Nobel Prize for his discovery of
the ‘Chandrasekhar
Limit’, a discovery made while he was
a graduate student at
Cambridge in the 1930s. If his work
had been recognized
then, it could have led to the
discovery of the Black
Hole decades earlier. How many
failures must von Braun
have gone through before his
Saturn launch vehicle
put man on the moon? These
thoughts helped to give
me the ability to withstand
apparently irreversible
setbacks.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To live only for some
unknown future is superficial. It is
like climbing a
mountain to reach the peak without
experiencing its sides.
The sides of the mountain sustain
life, not the peak.
This is where things grow, experience is
gained, and
technologies are mastered. The importance of
the peak lies only in
the fact that it defines the sides. So I
went on towards the
top, but always experiencing the sides.
I had a long way to go
but I was in no hurry. I went in little
steps—just one step
after another—but each step towards
the top.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I experienced mixed
feelings. I was happy to achieve
the success which had been
evading me for the past two
decades, but I was sad
because the people who had
inspired me were no
longer there to share my joy—my
father, my
brother-in-law Jallaluddin, and Prof. Sarabhai.
We had a late dinner
that evening. Gradually, the din
and clatter of the
celebrations calmed down. I retired to my
bed with almost no
energy left. Through the open window, I
could see the moon
among the clouds. The sea breeze
seemed to reflect the
buoyancy of the mood on Sriharikota
island that day.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Republic Day, 1981
brought with it a pleasant surprise.
On the evening of 25
January, Mahadevan, Secretary to
Prof. UR Rao, rang up
from Delhi to inform me about the
Home Ministry announcement
about the conferment of the
Padma Bhushan award on
me. The next important call was
from Prof. Dhawan to
congrat-ulate me. I felt blissfully
elated as it was from
my guru. I rejoiced with Prof. Dhawan
at his receiving the
Padma Vibhushan and I congratulated
him wholeheartedly. I
then rang up Dr Brahm Prakash and
thanked him. Dr Brahm
Prakash chided me for the formality
and said, “I feel as if
my son has got the award.” I was so
deeply touched by Dr
Brahm Prakash’s affection that I
could no longer keep my
emotions in check.
I filled my room with
the music of Bismillah Khan’s
shehnai. The music took
me to another time, another place.
I visited Rameswaram
and hugged my mother. My father
ran his caring fingers
through my hair. My mentor,
Jallaluddin, announced
the news to the crowd gathered on
Mosque Street. My
sister, Zohara, prepared special sweets
for me. Pakshi
Lakshmana Sastry put a tilak on my
forehead. Fr. Solomon
blessed me holding the holy cross. I
saw Prof. Sarabhai
smiling with a sense of achievement—
the sapling which he
had planted twenty years ago had
finally grown into a
tree whose fruits were being
appreciated by the
people of India.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Happiness,
satisfaction, and
success in life depend on making the right
choices, the winning
choices. There are forces in life
working for you and
against you. One must distinguish the
beneficial forces from
the malevolent ones and choose
correctly between them.
(When he suffered
hatred and jealousy from his collegues after getting the esteemed bharat ratna
he wrote this to describe how he looked at it)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Many of my senior colleagues—naming
them would be
unfair, because it
could be only my imagination—tried to
befriend me during this
period. I respected their concern for
a lonely man, but
avoided any close contacts. Through
loyalty to a friend one
can be easily led into doing
something that is not
in the best interests of the
organization.
Perhaps the main motive
behind my isolation was my
desire to escape from
the demands of relationships, which
I consider very
difficult in comparison to making rockets. All
I desired was to be true
to my way of life, to uphold the
science of rocketry in
my country and to retire with a clean
conscience. I took
quite some time and did a lot of hard
thinking to decide who
should lead the five projects. I
examined the working
styles of many scientists before
making my decision. I
think some of my observations may
interest you.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A basic aspect of a
person’s working style is how he
plans and organizes
tasks. At one extreme is the cautious
planner, who carefully
spells out each step before making
any move. With a sharp
eye for what can possibly go
wrong, he tries to
cover all contingencies. At the other end
is the fast mover, who
weaves and dodges without a plan.
Inspired by an idea,
the fast mover is always ready for
action.
Another aspect of a
person’s working style is control—
the energy and
attention devoted to ensuring that things
happen in a certain
way. At one extreme is the tight
controller, a strict
administrator with frequent checkpoints.
Rules and policies are
to be followed with religious fervour.
At the opposite end are
those who move with freedom and
flexibility. They have
little patience for bureaucracy. They
delegate easily and
give their subordinates wide latitude
for movement. I wanted
leaders who tread the middle path,
those who could control
without stifling dissent or being
rigid
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What makes a productive
leader? In my opinion, a
productive leader must
be very competent in staffing. He
should continually
introduce new blood into the
organization. He must
be adept at dealing with problems
and new concepts.
The leader must be
capable of instilling
enthusiasm in his team.
He should give appropriate credit
where it is due; praise
publicly, but criticize privately
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The biggest problem
Indian youth faced, I felt, was a
lack of clarity of
vision, a lack of direction. It was then that I
decided to write about
the circumstances and people who
made me what I am
today; the idea was not merely to pay
tribute to some
individuals or highlight certain aspects of
my life. What I wanted
to say was that no one, however
poor, underprivileged
or small, need feel disheartened
about life. Problems
are a part of life. Suffering is the
essence of success. As
someone said:
God has not promised
Skies always blue,
Flower-strewn pathways
All our life through;
God has not promised
Sun without rain,
Joy without sorrow,
Peace without pain.
I will not be
presumptuous enough to say that my life can
be a role model for
anybody; but some poor child living in
an obscure place, in an
underprivileged social setting may
find a little solace in
the way my destiny has been shaped. It
could perhaps help such
children liberate themselves from
the bondage of their
illusory backwardness and
hopelessness.
Irrespective of where they are right now, they
should be aware that
God is with them and when He is with
them, who can be
against them?
But God has promised
Strength for the day,
Rest for the labour
Light for the way.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It has been my
observation that most Indians suffer
unnecessary misery all
their lives because they do not know
how to manage their
emotions. They are paralysed by
some sort of a
psychological inertia. Phrases like ‘the next
best alternative’, ‘the
only feasible option or solution’, and
‘till things take a
turn for the better’ are commonplace in our
business conversations.
Why not write about the deep rooted
character traits which
manifest themselves in such
widespread, self defeatist
thought patterns and negative
behavior? I have worked
with many people and
organizations and have
had to deal with people who were
so full of their own
limitations that they had no other way to
prove their self-worth
than by intimidating me. Why not write
about the victimization
which is a hallmark of the tragedy of
Indian science and
technology? And about the pathways to
organizational success?
Let the latent fire in the heart of
every Indian acquire
wings, and the glory of this great
country light up the
sky.
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