DR.A.P.J.ABDUL KALAMMy parents were widely regarded as an ideal couple. My mother’s lineage was the more distinguished, one of her forebears having been bestowed the title of ‘Bahadur’ by the British.
His father possessed great innate wisdom, true generosity of spirit and was a spiritual person. In a remote belt of a spiritually charged island town, at the southern tip, his father rented boats to fishermen.
He was also the Panchayat Board President of the village. Kalam overlooked the boat taking shape. Bulkheads and wooden hull were seasoned with the heat from wood fires. His father was doing good business with the boat, and one day, a cyclone struck the shore with winds blowing at over 100 miles per hour, which carried away their boats. The Pamban Bridge also collapsed with a train full of passengers to speak of the havoc wreaked by nature. Till then, he had seen the calm beauty of the sea, but then, its uncontrollable energy came as a revelation to him.
We lived in our ancestral house, which was built in the middle of the 19th century. It was a fairly large pucca house, made of limestone and brick, on the Mosque Street in Rameswaram.
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(c)(b) & (c).My same house in mosque street at rameswaram .
One day when I was in the fifth standard at the Rameswaram Elementary School, a new teacher came to our class. I used to wear a cap which marked me as a Muslim, and I always sat in the front row next to Ramanadha Sastry, who wore a sacred thread. The new teacher could not stomach a Hindu priest’s son sitting with a Muslim boy. In accordance with our social ranking as the new teacher saw it, I was asked to go and sit on the back bench. I felt very sad, and so did Ramanadha Sastry. He looked utterly downcast as I shifted to my seat in the last row. The image of him weeping when I shifted to the last row left a lasting impression on me.
After school, we went home and told our respective parents about the incident. Lakshmana Sastry summoned the teacher, and in our presence, told the teacher that he should not spread the poison of social inequality and communal intolerance in the minds of innocent children. He bluntly asked the teacher to either apologize or quit the school and the island. Not only did the teacher regret his behaviour, but the strong sense of conviction Lakshmana Sastry conveyed ultimately reformed this young teacher.
On the whole, the small society of Rameswaram was highly stratified and very rigid in terms of the segregation of different social groups. However, my science teacher Sivasubramania Iyer, though an orthodox Brahmin with a very conservative wife, was something of a rebel. He did his best to break social barriers so that people from varying backgrounds could mingle easily. He used to spend hours with me and would say, "Kalam, I want you to develop so that you are on par with the highly educated people of the big cities."
One day, he invited me to his home for a meal. His wife was horrified at the idea of a Muslim boy being invited to dine in her ritually pure kitchen. She refused to serve me in her kitchen. Sivasubramania Iyer was not perturbed, nor did he get angry with his wife, but instead, served me with his own hands and sat down beside me to eat his meal. His wife watched us from behind the kitchen door. I wondered whether she had observed any difference in the way I ate rice, drank water or cleaned the floor after the meal. When I was leaving his house, Sivasubramania Iyer invited me to join him for dinner again the next weekend. Observing my hesitation, he told me not to get upset, saying, "Once you decide to change the system, such problems have to be confronted." When I visited his house the next week, Sivasubramania Iyer’s wife took me inside her kitchen and served me food with her own hands.
A Life-Long Friend
Jallaluddin, a relative who later married Kalam’s sister Zohara, became a good friend of Kalam. He would help his father at the boat building. In the aftermath of the tragedy, Jallaluddin, moved around with Abdul on long walks towards the sandy shores conducting spiritual discourses. Though Jallaluddin’s schooling had been limited, and it was perhaps, for this reason that he encouraged Kalam to excel at studies and equally enjoy Kalam’s success. An interesting feature of his was that he (Jallaluddin) was the only person on the island who could speak and understand English. Abdul has expressed his gratitude to Jallaluddin for creating an awareness in him regarding "brave, new world", beyond the narrow confines.
Since early childhood, mysteries of the sky and the bird flights fascinated Kalam. He used to watch cranes and seagulls soar into sky. He was convinced that one day, he too would fly into the skies. He was the first person from Rameswaram to fly later, indeed.
In 1939, World War II broke out, there was a sudden demand for tamarind seeds in the market. He used to collect the seeds and sell them to the provision store on Mosque street. A day’s collection would fetch him an anna, the lowest of denomination then. After listening to stories of war from Jallaluddin, he attempted to trace the headlines in a periodical, Dinamani. Though, their area was not much affected by the war, India as part of the Allied Forces, had joined the war and a state of emergency was declared then.
In all curiosity get an update on the war through pictures, Abdul would glance through the periodicals and newspapers before Samsuddin, his first cousin, would go to deliver to the customers. Due to emergency, the train halt at Rameshwaram was stopped and the bundles of periodicals and news papers has to be dropped out of the moving train. Here, Samsuddin engaged Abdul, thus making earn his first pay, a matter he takes pride in, even today. He gives full credit to Samsuddin.
Post-War Period
After World War II, Gandhiji declared "Indians will build their own India" and the country was filled with strong optimism. Abdul asked his father’s permission to leave Rameswaram and study at the district headquarters in Ramanathapuram. Samsuddin and Jallaluddin traveled with him to Ramanathapuram to enroll Kalam at Schwartz High School. Kalam felt homesick and therefore, grabbed every opportunity to visit his hometown. It was his father’s dream to see him as a successful person in the potion of a collector. This made him work hard and motivated him to fulfill his father’s dream .
Ramanathapuram Schwartz Higher Secondary School
Growing qualities within
He was about 15, when he met his teacher Iyadurai Solomon – an ideal guide for an eager mind. Solomon raised Kalam’s self-esteem and convinced him that the son of parents who had not had the benefit of education could also aspire to shape his life in the way he wished, because, through faith, anyone could change his destiny.
Once, when studying mathematics under Ramakrishna Iyer, Kalam was found loitering in the classroom; Iyer caught him by the scruff in front of the class. Few months later, he scored full marks in mathematics. Iyer narrated the incident to the entire school in the morning assembly saying that, whoever he caned became a great man. While at Schwartz, he grew up as a confident boy determined to succeed.
In 1950, he joined St. Joseph’s College to study for the Intermediate examination at Tiruchirappalli. Kalam’s brother Mustafa Kalam used to run a provision store on the railway station road. When Kalam used to go visit Rameswaram from Schwartz, Mustafa would vanish for hours together leaving the shop in charge of Kalam, who enjoyed selling novelties made of seashells. His younger brother Kasim, was also a salesman.
ST.Joseph's College in Tiruchirappalli
While he was a final year student at St. Joseph, Abdul Kalam developed a taste for English literature. He started reading great classics by writers. Among them Scott, Tolstoy and Hardy were his favorites and later on, he moved to philosophy. It was during this period when he got interested in physics. Prof. Chinna Durai and Prof. Krishnamurthy, his physics teachers at St. Joseph’s, introduced him to the concept of the half-life period and matters related to radioactive decay of substance through subatomic physics.After graduating from St.Joseph College, Tiruchirapalli, he joined the Madras Institute of Technology (MIT) to specialise in Aeronautical Engg.Though selected on the merit list, it was an expensive affair for him to get enrolled. His sister Zohara stood by him, mortgaging her gold bangles and chain. This was indeed his launching pad for this promising young man who was destined to become the father of Indian missile programme.
At MIT, two de-commissioned aircraft displayed for the demonstration of various subsystems of flying machines, fascinated him. He would sit for hours together observing them, even after other students left for their hostel. On completion of the first year, when he had to select a particular branch, he opted for aeronautical engineering. Here, he decided his goal to fly aircrafts. Prof. Sponder, Prof. KAV Pandalai and Prof. Narasingha, were his teachers at MIT, who shaped his thinking and formed a foundation on which he built his professional career.
Prof. Sponder, was an Austrian who taught him technical aerodynamics, Prof. KAV Pandalai, a very cheerful, friendly and enthusiastic teacher, taught aero-structure to Kalam, whereas, theoretical aerodynamics was taught by Prof. Narasingha Rao, a mathematician.
| At the end of third year, along with four other colleagues, he was assigned a project to design a low-level attack aircraft. Kalam took up the responsibility of preparing and drawing its aerodynamic design, while his teammates took up the task of designing the propulsion, structure, control and instrumentation of the aircraft. | |
His design teacher Prof. Srinivasan, then the director of MIT, reviewed the project and declared Kalam’s work to be gloomy and disappointing. He didn’t lend an ear to his excuses. Kalam asked for a month’s time to complete the task, but, the prof. told him, "Look, young man, today is Friday afternoon. I give you three days time. If by Monday morning I don’t get the configuration drawing, your scholarship will be stopped." Kalam could not respond as scholarship was his lifeline, and could not go ahead if it was taken away. There was no other way out but to finish the task. He didn’t sleep that night, working on the drawing board skipping his dinner. On Saturday, he took just an hour’s break and ate little. On Sunday morning, he was near completion, when he felt someone’s presence in his room. It was Prof. Srinivasan watching his progress. After looking at his work, he patted his back and hugged him affectionately. He had words of appreciation : "I knew I was putting you under stress and asking you to meet an impossible deadline. I never expected you to perform so well."
After completing his third year at MIT, Kalam joined Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), Bangalore as a trainee. Here, he worked on technical aspects of Aircrafts like piston, turbine engines, radial engine-cum-drum operations, checking crankshaft for wear and tear etc.
In 1958, when he came out of HAL as a graduate of aeronautical engineering, he had his long-standing dream of flying, as two alternative opportunities for employment. One was the job at Directorate of Technical Development and Production (DTD & P) [Air] of the Ministry of Defense and another was a career in the Indian Air Force. He applied at both the places, and received interview calls simultaneously, from both. He had to reach Dehra Dun for an interview with Air Force recruitment authorities via Delhi, by DTD&P (Air) for the same.
He first went to Delhi for an interview with DTD&P (Air), which did not challenge his knowledge of the subject. Then, he proceeded to Dehra Dun for interview with the Air Force Selection Board. Here too, the interview was more on personality test, rather than testing his knowledge. He stood ninth in the batch of 25, and eight officers were selected to be commissioned in the Air Force. This was a disappointing, as he could feel the opportunity to join the Air Force slipping out of his hands.
Meets Swamiji
Kalam then visited Rishikesh where he bathed in the Ganga and met Swami Sivananda – "a man who looked like Buddha". He introduced himself to the Swamiji, to a no-reaction on his Muslim identity. He questioned Kalam for his sorrow and regrets in life. Kalam told him about his unsuccessful attempt to join the Indian Air Force and his long-cherished desire to fly. Sivananda guided him saying: "Accept your destiny and go ahead with your life. You are not destined to become an Air Force pilot. What you are destined to become is not revealed now but it is predetermined. Forget this failure, as it was essential to lead you to your destined path. Search, instead, for the true purpose of your existence. Become one with yourself, my son! Surrender yourself to the wish of God."
After returning to Delhi he received an appointment letter from DTD & P (Air). On the next day he joined as Senior Scientific Assistant, with a basic salary of Rs. 250/- per month. Here, he was posted at the Technical Center (Civil Aviation). He lost his resentment of failure, thinking he would be able to make aircrafts airworthy if not fly them. During his first year at the Directorate, he carried out a design assignment on supersonic target aircraft with the help of his officer-in-charge, R Varadharajan, and won praise from the Director, Dr Neelakantan. There from, he was sent to the Aircraft and Armament Testing Unit (A & ATU) at Kanpur to get shop-floor exposure in aircraft maintenance.
Upon his return to Delhi, he was informed that the design of a DART target had been taken up at the DTD&P and he was included in the design team. After that, he undertook a preliminary design study on Human Centrifuge. He designed and developed a vertical takeoff and landing platform, and Hot Cockpit. Three years later, the Aeronautical Development Establishment(ADE) was formed in Bangalore and he was posted there.
At ADE, Kalam served as a senior scientific assistant, heading a small team that developed a prototype hovercraft. Defence Minister Krishna Menon rode in India's first indigenous hovercraft with Kalam at the controls. But for reasons never explained, the project which would have been a considerable international achievement in those days, was not encouraged. This was probably one of the reasons why he moved out of ADE in 1962 and joined India's space program.
During 1963-82, he served the Indian Space Research Organisation(ISRO) in various capacities. Here Kalam initiated Fibre Reinforced Plastics(FRP) activities, then after a stint with the aerodynamics and design group, he joined the satellite launch vehicle team at Thumba, near Trivandram and soon became Project Director for SLV-3. As Project Director, he was responsible for carrying out the design, development, qualification and flight testing of 44 major sub systems. The project managed to put Rohini, a scientific satellite, into orbit in July 1980. He was honoured with a Padma Bhushan in 1981.
In 1982, as Director of DRDO, Kalam was entrusted with the Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme(IGMDP), India's most successful military research task to date. The programme constituted of 5 major projects for meeting the requirements of the defence services and for establishing re-entry technology.
The 5 projects were scheduled to be completed in a time frame of only 10 years and consisted of:
(1) Nag - an anti-tank guided missile
(2) Prithvi - a surface-to-surface battlefield missile
(3) Akash - a swift, medium-range surface-to-air missile
(4) Trishul - a quick-reaction surface-to-air missile with a shorter range
(5) Agni - an intermediate range ballistic missile, the mightiest of them all
From his SLV-3 experience, Kalam had learned the advantages of team work and of sharing the tasks with partners in private and public sector industries. In the new management structure of the missile program, Kalam, as the Chairman of the Programme Management Board, delegated almost all executive and financial powers to five carefully selected Project Directors and kept himself free to address the core technology issues. His task was to inspire and monitor over 20 institutions and partners outside - ranging from large public and private sector suppliers to small specialist firms that needed seed money to take up the precision tasks.
The naval version of Trishul launched from INS Dronacharya
The missiles went up more or less on schedule: Trishul in 1985, Prithvi in 1988, Agni in 1989 and the others in 1990. The development and successful flight test of Prithvi, Trishul, Akash, Nag, and Agni established the indigeneous capability towards self reliance in defence preparedness. The successful launching of 'Agni' surface-to-surface missile was a unique achievement which made India a member of an exclusive club of highly developed countries. The Trishul has the unique distinction of being capable of serving all three services.
The establishment of the Research Centre Imarat(RCI), a campus 8km from DRDL, in 1988 was perhaps the most satisfying achievement for Kalam during the missile years. He received generous funding from the Government to build the futuristic centre, which is totally geared for work in advanced missile technologies. Its state-of-the-art facilities are set in a unique ambience and the level of comfort accorded to the individual worker is matched by few R&D institutions. And Kalam's interest in the environment saw RCI emerge as an oasis in a rocky wasteland. It has a small farm that meets the food requirements of those who stay in the RCI quarters. Kalam was awarded the Padma Vibhushan in 1990.
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