APJ

I do have a lot of desires in me, though I am not a very ambitious person. A lot of whims and fancies too. But the single most burning desire or if I could say a privilege and an unparalleled joy, if it turns out to really happen, would be is to :

"Meet the doyen of Indian rocketry and missile man, our own President, the Hon'ble Dr APJ Kalam and spend an entire day with him."

I know it is a far fetched fancy, but I could settle for atleast a few minutes and a snap with him. The man, I admire the most apart ofcourse my Dad is him, India's most distinguished living technocrat.

I had been following the press quite closely during the Pokhran nuclear testing and had read a lot about him, but it was only recently about a few months ago that I happened to read two books authored by him. "Ignited minds" and his autobiography along with Arun Tiwari rightly named "Wings of fire."

Note: This is not a review of the books.

The books are typically "all-Kalam" in feel, and his autobiography apart from showing a few glimpses of his early life with his parents in the temple town of Rameshwaram, also speaks about his career right from his days with Hindustan Aeronatics Limited, Bangalore to being the director of the Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP) at the DRDL in Hyderabad which saw him realise his cherished dream of launching the Agni missile.

How the warm and intensely personal religious person became to be one who could make state of the art technology for the battle field is something of an enigma. Reading his autobiography one cannot but marvel at the humble man whose was born of religious parents in a small town.

"His personal story is a valuable document that Indians can be world beaters with no foreign training or degree and for this upbeat message alone his autobiography is worth a 100 management tomes" wrote Anand Parthasarathy in the Hindu 5 years ago and every written word is worth its weight in gold.

These two books by APJ has something that everybody can extract from them and is definitely worthy of being dubbed as "compulsory reading"

His story--the story of a small boat owner Jainulabdeen who lived for over a hundred years on Mosque Street in Rameshwaram island and died there; the story of a lad who sold newspapers to help his brother; the story of a brother who had to mortgage his sister Zohara's jewels to get him into engineering college; the story of an engineer spotted by Prof MGK Menon and groomed by the legendary Prof. Vikram Sarabhai; the story of a scientist tested by failures and setbacks; the story of a leader supported by a team of brilliant and dedicated professionals.

The book reiterates his skill as a leader of men and how he coped with the failures in life and also offers insights into his personal life as to why he became a vegetarian and the like. He couldnt afford to buy meat--that is the reason.

He tells us about how he felt when the Indian press ridiculed the failed attempts at launching his dream missile, the Agni. "Cartoonist Suhir Dar sketched a shopkeeper returning a product the salesman saying that like Agni it would not take off. ANother cartoonist showed one scientist explaining that the launch (of the Agni) was postponed because the press button did not make contact. The Hindustan Times showed a leader consoling press reporters, "There is no need for alarm...it's a purely non-violent missile."

The book also brings out his keen observation of people and in one such case writes about TN Seshan the fire breathing former Chief Election Commisioner of India: "Seshan is a person who enjoys verbally bringing his adversaries to their knees. Using his sharp edged humour, Seshan would make his opponents look ridiculous. Although he is prone to be loud and can turn argumentative on occasions, in the end he would always ensure maximization of all available resources towards a solution that was within implementation."

He has rightly been termed as the great 'welder of people' and it is common knowledge that wherever he goes he doesnt as much meet politicians and the beaurocracy as much as he meets children and urges them to "dream". Dream of a better future for India.

I was really moved on reading the following lines from his autobiography. These reflect the selfless, patriotic man who sacrificed personal pleasures to seek pleasure in science, in innovation, in patriotism.

He writes:
This story will end with me, for I have no inheritance in the worldly sense. I have acquired nothing, built nothing, possess nothing--no family, sons, daughters.

I am a well in this great land
Looking at its millions of boys and girls
To draw from me
The inexhaustible divinity
And spread His grace everywhere
As does the water drawn from a well.

I do not wish to set myself as an example to others, but I believe that a few souls may draw inspiration and come to balance that ultimate satisfaction which can only be found in the life spirit. God's providence is your inheritance.

I reflect on this great soul and feel privileged to be living during his time when he is the First Citizen of our great Motherland. What better example of national integration can be there when we have a Muslim, who was mentored by his teachers Mr Subramania Iyer and Rev. Ayyadurai Solomon, as the guiding beacon of light!

May God Bless him with a healthy and long life.