Mumbai to Delhi with WINGS OF FIRE

“We are all born with a divine Fire within us. Our efforts should be to give wings to this Fire and fill the World with the glow of its Goodness” - Sir Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen ABDUL KALAM.

Though I am very small person to write something about this Legend but as a Fan & an Admirer of Dr Kalam, it will be my great pleasure to share my experience of reading this book. He is supposed to be the First Bachelor President of India but I guess after reading this book anyone can make out that he was married & committed to his Work & Dreams. Though he was the first Scientist to do so for which I would thank Vajpayee ji for making an absolute perfect choice for that post, giving him and that post a Great Honour. I was fortunate to see a Non – Political person to be The President of this Country without any Politics in it. His cute innocent smile, speedy walking and hair style has always attracted me towards him. The person who failed to become a Fighter Pilot became The Supreme Commander and then flew the Sukhoi-MKI shows his determination and will. This Blog is not to summarize the Book but to tell my experience and pleasure of reading it.

I was coming back to Delhi from Mumbai last night. As my ticket was in Chair Car, the expectation was that the journey would be tiresome and exhausting. But to my surprise I saw my co-passenger carrying this Book along with him. I had searched this book on almost 5-6 shops and Trade Fair 09 but every time unfortunately it was told to be out of Print. So I planned to sneak and read this book as and when that man starts turning the pages. For my delight he was not comfortable reading, he also noticed my desperation towards it so he offered me the book for the journey. I had no sleep the night before this so I was feeling very tired but as and when I started reading the Book, there was a curiosity in me to read it. As and when I closed my eyes for a nap, the curiosity to know “what happened next” filled me with energy. I started it around dusk and closed at around 3 am with a smile of satisfaction and inspiration. From the first starting words till the last line of the book, it’s full of Patriotism, Determination, Hard Work and Sacrifice. Reading the Book you realize why he continued to stress the Involvement of the Youth in the main stream (many decades before Rahul Gandhi was born who now advocates the same for mere popularity and politics)

It fills the heart with such a pain to see how the social lives of the scientists are suffered when they are involved with such Responsible Projects which are important for the Nation’s Pride. They worked more than 18 hours a day with full passion and energy. Instead of the required 270 scientists they worked with just 50 but still all the Projects were completed well in scheduled time as being promised to the Nation. There are many instances like this. Once Mr Nagaraj (Team mates of Kalam Sir) was not informed about the death of his family member just because they were busy with the launch of the Agni missile and even after listening about the demise, this broken Scientist dared to come back to work on the very third day with the same concentration. He remembers how Media just Criticised and played with these instances when there was the delay in launch of Agni due to unavoidable circumstances (as reporters hardly have any knowledge of Rocketry, there aim is to make TRPs at anyone’s expense) But soon these same people made this Country Proud by not only successfully launching Agni but also by marking its first step towards becoming a SUPERPOWER. These things fill my heart as an Indian with great respect for this man who conquered thousands of obstacles to achieve his Dream Project. He with his team conquered tough milestones with launch of Indigenous SLV 3 (without any foreign help), Prithvi, Agni, Akash, Trishul and Nag being his famous milestones under his leadership. I still remember that recently again he was in Media who doubted the success of POKHRAN – II. I guess he replied to all these figures in this book by quoting the hatred and opposition from some when he was ISRO, DRDL Chief and proving them all wrong at the end.

He needs not to prove anybody anything. He is for me a Great Legend, A Super Human Being and My Role Model. I respect him, I preach him and I love him and he is an example to those Scientists & Engineers who leave this country for more money. For sure they can earn money but they can never compensate for the love and respect from the own countrymen and the happiness of doing something for the TRICOLOUR NATIONAL FLAG. After Prof. V. Sarabhai and Prof Bhabha, along with his fellow Scientists he has laid a firm Foundation for our Space and Strategic Development which is important for the Integrity, Security and Pride of this Country.

With this man and his believes India will enter 2020 with its own Satellite and in Geostationary Orbit at 36,000km with possibly its own Indigenous Vehicle, and we will be the NEXT MISSILE POWER. Though the World may not see our full Potential or Power but today no one dares to ignore it anymore.

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Mukul Gupta