Avul
Pakir jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam has come to personally represent to many of his countrymen
the best aspects of Indian life. Bom in 1931, the son of a little-educated boat-owner in
Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu, he had an unparalleled career as a defence scientist, culminating
in the highest civilian award of India, the Bharat Ratna. As chief of the country's
defence research and development programme, Kalam 'A snappy, readable and very human
document set against the background of high technology ... a warm and intensely personal,
deeply passionate story of a common boat-owner's son who has become India's most
distinguished living technocrats valuable document underlining the fact (that) work can
make Indians world beaters.'
The Hindu demonstrated the great potential for dynamism and innovation that existed in
seemingly moribund research establishments.
This is the story of Kalam's own rise from obscurity and his personal and professional
struggles, as well as the story of Agni, Prithvi, Akash, Trishul and Nag-n-missile that
have become household names in India and that have raised the nation to the level of a
missile power of international reckoning. At the same time as he has helped create India's
awesome weaponry, Kalam has maintained the ascetic of his personal life, working 18
hours a day and practicing the veena. With characteristic modesty, Kalam ascribes the
greatness of his achievements to the influence of his teachers and mentors. He describes
the struggles of his boyhood and youth, bringing alive everyday life in a small town in
South India and the inspirational role of educators.
He describes the role of visionary Indian scientists, such as Dr Vikram Sarabhai, and of
the creation of a coordinated network of research institutions. This is also the saga of
independent India's struggle for technological self-sufficiency and defensive autonomy-a
story as much about politics, domestic and international, as it is about science.
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