We start in a sandy dessert on a windy day in 1974. It’s Gautam Buddha’s birth anniversary which is a national holiday in India. Despite that two high ranking army generals and two dozen of scientists are in a cabin in middle of a sandstorm looking out.
A 1.8 m diameter, 1400kg plutonium ball has been thrown into an empty oil well and it is not detonating. It is India’s first nuclear test, CIA is closing in by the minute and the explosive charge has failed to start a detonation. The weather is bad enough that not even the soldiers want to move out. Also if the spark is jump started, they will have five minutes to run from a nuclear bomb of more power than the fat boy. A representative from Terminal Ballistics Research Laboratory(TBRL) wants to take the risk. A promising young lad is ready to risk his life and career just about the time he has become the lead on his dream project. We’ll return to the story in a minute.
It is not a secret that my role models include Dr. Homi Bhaba, Dr. Vikram Sarabhai and Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam. I have talked about the former two in one of the most read posts of this newsletter, defiantly read it if you already haven’t.
Smart people learn from everything and everyone, average ones from experience, stupid ones have all the answers- Socrates
This October 15 was the 92nd birth anniversary of Dr. Kalam. While every Indian knows about him as not only was he a revolutionary scientist, a great leader and a honest president, he was the symbol of science for a generation.
This edition of my newsletter includes my takeaways from the life of Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam which will inspire you to shoot for the stars with your feet on the ground.
A good leader takes a little more than his share of the blame, a little less than his share of the credit. - Arnold H. Glasow
In an anecdote shared by Dr. Kalam, In 1979 when they launched the SLV-3, about 5 minutes from the launch the computer warned that there was a leak in the control systems.
Dr. Kalam was the mission director and with his team of experts he took the call to bypass the computer and launch the rocket. Stage one of the launch succeeded. About in the stratosphere, the rocket started spinning widely and the satellite along with the launch vehicle who had to go to the orbit, went into the ocean.
The chairman of Indian Space Reaserch Organization(ISRO), Dr. Satish Dhawan, stopped Kalam from talking to the press and decided to do the press conference himself. Kalam was scared out of his mind, he was sure that he will be blamed and will lose his dream job.
Satish Dhawan walked to the press and told them that he, Satish Dhawan, had made the error which led to millions lost. He was basically crucified by the press while no other scientists reputation was smeared. Next year, they relaunched SLV and this time it was a resounding success.
Kalam was sitting in his cabin when Satish Dhawan asked him to conduct the press conference, Dhawan said that he didn’t want to take credit of Kalam’s success.
This shaped Dr. Kalam’s philosophy towards leadership which while brought him success in building the rockets and missiles, it helped him run the country as the 11th president. It made him a joy to work with.
Great leaders don’t make their inferiors feel like they are walking on egg shells. They create a great team and let the team do their thing. Leaders are not swords, they are shields. As Simon Sinek’s book is aptly titled, “Leader’s Eat Last”.
“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts” - Winston Churchill
Dr. Kalam had a life long dream to serve his nation. He wanted to be a fighter pilot. After taking his bachelors, he gave the test for the same. He reached the final physical test where of the 10 students only 5 were to be chosen. He ranked 6th.
He was heartbroken. But he overheard a general talk that India is facing missile shortage as other countries are not willing to sell them missiles at the moment. Kalam naively suggested manufacturing missiles in India. They replied that someone needs to setup that infrastructure. Kalam decided to work in just that. He took a masters degree and then a PhD while working under Dr. Vikram Sarabhai to create rockets, which they both believed could pave way to missiles. While this came to fruition after Sarabhai’s death, Kalam eventually setup the infrastructure and then created the very first made in India missile in 1983 named Prithvi(Earth).
He is remembered as the man who revolutionized Indian air warfare by creating air to air missiles for which India was not dependent on other nations but could make whenever required within our own borders. He didn’t let the failure to not make the airforce set him back. He didn’t let the failure to get into a prestigious collage set him back.
Dr. Kalam embraced his failures and took a learning from them and moved on. He even mentioned his every failure, every rejection in his resume along with what he learnt. This impressed Dr. Sarabhai so much that he ran to the railway station to convince Dr. Kalam to work with them on rockets which can translate to missiles.
Let’s return to the story I started this post on. The young scientist was no other than Dr. Kalam. Why did he risk his life when even the most trained soldiers were unwilling? Was it because he was fitter? No, he had failed the physical test for the airforce while these were on duty soldiers. The soldiers understood the operation and loved the nation as much as Kalam did. Then why did only he choose to take the risk?
It was because the shot at success was so glorious that the chance of failure disappeared into the shadows. Kalam knew that the bomb was contained in a giant oil well and then that he had a jeep to drive away from the well. He knew that sand absorbs radiation and that he would be safe even at a lesser distance as long as he took cover. He knew more than the soldiers. As you might have expected, Dr. Kalam was all well and the test was success making India the 6th nuclear power.
Had it not been for the bravery, CIA would have closed in and forced Madam Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to call off the test. But just the second the ambassador stepped in the Prime Minister’s office, they received a call saying “The Buddha is Smiling”
USA was sent a short letter which made it clear that we knew that they were behind the death of Homi Bhaba, “You may have won the battle, but we have won the war.”
This newsletter is a small glimpse into what a crazy guy Dr. ABJ Abdul Kalam was, if you have the time do check out his autobiography Wings of Fire. He is the figure to look up to. Anywhere in India, one can find not a single person who speaks ill of Dr. Kalam. The presidential security regiment’s commander at the time of his presidency has said in an interview that Dr. Kalam had arrived to the President’s office with a suitcase containing five sets of cloths and he left with the exact same suitcase he came with. He only new possession he got was the love and respect of the people.
When Dr. Kalam died in 2015, he had 500 INR(8 USD) in his bank account. All the money he made in his illustrious career, and post retirement lecturing in collages had been donated to many charities. He lived in a small modest house without an AC, fridge or a TV.
No cases were filled against him and no one found a single political charity in the lot he donated to. I find it strange that so many people look up to Elon Musk, Mark Zukerberg and others who have built their life profiting off others hardwork. A simple web search reveals more than enough about the dirt they hide.
Role models need to be like Dr. Bhaba, Dr. Sarabhai, Dr. Kalam and a lot more people I plan to introduce you to in this series. We will end this newsletter with a couplet by Mirza Ghalib:
You may find your destination, after you wander,
Lost are those who never leave their abode to ponder.
मंजिल मिलेगी भटके के ही सही,
गुमराह वो है जो घर से निकले ही नहीं।
Thanks for reading.
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