To Sir, With Love - Part 2

Being an ardent fan of writer Sujatha, I got to know that Dr Abdul Kalam and he were college mates in St Joseph’s college, Trichy and Madras Institute of Technology, Chromepet. At the latter named institute, the former pursued Aeronautical Engineering while the latter chose to master in Electronics.  They also secured first and second positions respectively for their projects. Their association was to continue well into their twilight years. President Kalam , ever the student-centric teacher at heart  that he was, wanted to write a book for children simplifying science and technology . He requested Sujatha, a scientist himself and  popular writer with mass readership, to co author the same. Sujatha is supposed to have remarked, “I’m ready anytime you are, Sir”. Had  that collaboration come through, it would’ve been a best seller translated into every language under  the sun!

There never was one before or after, who re defined the Presidency as he did. Here was a President who stuck to his oily hairstyle making quite many stylists  tear their hair in despair. If his thick grey locks shaped like inverted commas framing the forehead were not shocking enough, the disarming disregard for protocol surely was. He was far too distinguished (already a Bharat Ratna) , even before he became President a good five years later, which can’t be said about some of his predecessors or his successor. Every other First Citizen of the nation has maintained a distance from the common man he/she represents while Kalam reached out to them through the world wide web. A student had casually written to him , inviting him to his college. Prompt came the reply from the President’s office that His Excellency would consider the request anytime he visited the student’s town. Imagine the lad’s surprise a few months later when he actually received a call from Raisina Hill asking whether such and such a date would be fine for the college for his proposed visit! Sweet dreams are made of these…who am I to disagree…

Time was when skeletons were tumbling down the closets of several politicians, industrialists, bureaucrats, film stars, sports stars, spiritual gurus even. A thoroughly disillusioned 20 something of a PYT would tell me, “Aunty, the day I hear of a scam involving Abdul Kalam, I swear I’ll give up all hope on humanity!” Personal and professional integrity, simplicity, humility as character traits and eminence in the hallowed field of space science and defence technology made him an awe- inspiring icon way more than any rock star or movie star ever could.

How able was he as a President? I’ve heard of controversial decisions like declaring President’s rule in Bihar, sitting on mercy petitions indecisively and such. The jury is still out on those. What can you say when given a choice,  he would rather  teach than receive dignitaries,  confer awards or administer oaths?

He once wished to become a pilot in Indian Airforce. He didn’t quite make it and went on to become a scientist. Decades later by virtue of being the President, he would become the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces combining not just the air force, but army and navy as well. Yet he didn’t get to be the fighter  pilot he originally wished to be, you say….

Well he did, almost half a century later in 2006 when he flew as a co-pilot in a Sukhoi-30 from Pune’s Lohegaon Air Force Base. These are tales one loves to tell one’s children and grand children to ignite their minds to sour on wings of fire…Thank You Sir, for being the teacher who taught by example. Thank You Sir, for giving us pride! Thank You Sir, for giving us hope!

To Sir, With Love - Part 1

28^th May 2003, IUCAA (Inter University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics) Pune:

The auditorium was buzzing with college students wearing their ID cards like some badge of honour and why not, when the cards were their free passes to attending the 11^th President of India’s address to the scientists’ community?  That summer morning,  the Power Point President as he had come to be called, Dr APJ Abdul Kalam was sharing defining moments from his career.

He was the Project Director in ISRO for the SLV3 programme, to place satellite “Rohini” into orbit. The project had already overrun cost estimates and was carrying the aspirations of the entire sub continent into the exclusive space club. On the D Day of 1979, goaded by the assurances of the team members, Kalam bypassed the computer system that was warning of a glitch and manually launched the rocket which minutes later, plunged into the Bay of Bengal, turning the dream project into a monumental nightmare. Journalists from all over the world had arrived to report what would have been a historic event. One would think there would have been a witch hunt to fix the blame for the utter fiasco on the scientists involved. Prof. Satish Dhawan the then Chairman of ISRO gallantly stepped forward  throwing  himself to the wolves baying for blood (did he have a 56 inch chest?) and shouldered the responsibility himself for the disaster , re assuring the media and the nation that ISRO will soon succeed in the mission- which it did, the very next year. This time around though, he commanded Kalam to step forward and address the press conference. A leader owns failure himself, but credits success to his team- was the lesson in leadership the man who would be President three decades later, learnt that day.

Thunderous applause rent the air when he recounted this incident to an audience most of whom were not even born when the event happened. Such humility from the man who became the nation’s Missile Man!

“I shot an arrow into the air, it fell to earth I know not where” , my heart would swell with pride whenever I got to recite this poem in school.  What made the man who actually shot a rocket into the air feel proud? Not the satellite launch but a spin off from defence technology –his idea for  indigenous , cost effective cardiac stents and using  light weight carbon-carbon material used for making Agni to make composite material for calipers for polio patients, thereby reducing the weight of the calipers from 4 kgs to mere 400 grams! Polio patients who could barely walk, could now run!

This time it was not just the ovation but full throated whistles from the young audience that brought the roof down. It’s befitting that the central government has now named the Rashtriya Avishkar Abhiyan after him.