Wings Of Fire (21-24)

C H A P T E R S 21-24

Kalam and his colleagues set up special facilities at SHAR for the launch of Prithvi as the interim test range at Balasore was not yet completed. Mr Kurup who was the director of SHAR and one of the old friends of Kalam made all the necessary arrangements for the launch of Prithvi. It was launched at 11.23 hrs on 25th February 1988. It was an epoch-making event in the history of rocketry in the country.The scientists of our nation developed Prithvi with a CEP as precise as 50 km.
The launch of Prithvi sent shock waves across the neighboring countries. The response of the West was shock and then anger. A seven- nation technology embargo was clamped, making it impossible for India to buy anything even remotely connected with the development of guided missiles. The emergence of India as a self-reliant country in the field of guided missiles upset all the developed nations of the world. India’s core competence in rocketry has been firmly established beyond any doubt. The robust civilian space industry and a viable missile–based defense have taken India into a select club of nations.
The Agni missile was being developed as a technology demonstrator project, pooling all the resources available in the country.Kalam was sure that India would certainly achieve state of the art technology with the combined efforts of its scientific laboratories and academic institutions. The Agni team had more than 500 scientists and many organizations were networked to under take this huge launch. Unlike space launch vehicles a missile launch involves wide ranging safety hazards. Due to technical troubles its launch was postponed twice. When the conditions of weather were favourable, the launch of Agni was scheduled for 22 may 1989. Agni took off at 7.10 hrs. It was a perfect launch and met all the flight parameters. It was like waking up to a beautiful morning after night marish sleep. Kalam and other scientists had reached the launch pad as a result of their continuous work at multiple work centres. A mere 600 seconds of elegant flight washed off their fatigue in an instant. Kalam felt that it was one of the greatest moments of his life. The Maharashtra Academy of science in Bombay invited Kalam to deliver the Jawaharlal Nehru memorial lecture. There, he shared his plans of making indigenous air to air missile, Astra and the Light combat aircraft (LCA) with the young scientists. On the republic day of 1990, he was conferred the Padma vibhushan along with Dr. Arunachalam. India had thus achieved the status of having a third generation anti tank missile system with “fire and forget” capability on par with any state- of the art technology in the world. It had proven that innovation cannot be suppressed by international restrictions.
In 1991 the gulf war broke out between Iraq and the allied forces led by the USA. The rockets and missiles captured the imagination of the entire nation. People started discussing Scuds and Patriots in coffee houses and teashops. Children began flying paper kites shaped like missiles, and playing war games along the lines of what they saw on American television networks. The successful test firing of Prithvi and Trishul during the course of the gulf war relaxed the anxious Indian nation. The nation was quick to draw parallels between the missiles like Scud and Patriot which were operational in the gulf war to our Prithvi and Akash. People’s faces would light up with pride and satisfaction when they came to know that our missiles would perform better than those used in the gulf war. Superiority through technology is the key to the modern world order. So, deprive the opponent of the latest technology and then dictate the terms in an unequal contest became the policy of the day.
According to the Chinese war philosopher, Suntzu , “ what matters in war is not decimating the enemy physically but breaking the enemy’s will so as to make it concede defeat in the mind” Electronic war fare has come to dominate the politics of war in the twenty first century with missiles and information warfare playing the lead roles.
Kalam explains that the term ‘technology’ creates the images of smoky steel mills and clanking machines in the minds of many people. But, this is inadequate conception. Technology includes the techniques as well as the machines that may be necessary to apply these techniques. In fact, technology includes ways to make chemical reactions occur. Ways to freed fish, eradicate weeds, light up theaters, treat patients, to fight wars and even more to prevent them. Today most advanced technological processes especially in electronics and space technology are carried out in relative silence we should never forget that technology feeds on itself. Helpful technology makes more technology possible. In fact, technological innovation consists of three stages linked together in a self reinforced cycle. First, the blue print of a feasible idea. Secondly, the practical application and the third stage is its diffusion through society where its worth is measured.
Kalam explains that the biggest problem faced in one’s youth is the lack of clarity of vision, and the lack of direction. So Kalam decided to write about his opinions and observations on certain issues so as to say that no one should feel disheartened however poor or underprivileged. Problems are a part of life and suffering is the essence of success. Kalam wishes that children living in an obscure place in an under privileged social setting may find a little solace in the way kalam’s destiny has been shaped and liberate themselves from the bondage of their imagined backwardness and hopelessness. In sharing with us the story of his struggle to become a person Kalam hopes that it will equip at least a few young people to standup in our society. People tend to get addicted to the endless pursuit of external rewards like wealth, prestige, ceremonial honors and status symbols of all kinds. The youth of today must be- learn this self defeating way of living. The culture of working for material possessions and rewards must be discarded. People should rely more on the inner signals and less on the external material possessions. The entire nation will benefit by having strong, inner directed people as its citizens.

A service of Love

A SERVICE OF LOVE
The statement “when one loves one’s Art no service seems too hard” is true in the case of Joe Larrabee and Delia Caruthers. Joe came from the Middle West with a genius for painting to New York at the age of twenty years. As a child of six, he drew a picture of the town pump with an important citizen passing it in a hurry. This effort was framed and hung in the dreg store window. Delia,a promising singer, came from the South to New York to learn music with a small amount collected by her relatives. Joe and Delia met in a studio and fell in love with each other, Soon they were married. Mr&Mrs Larrabee began to live in a flat. Even though it was a lonely place, they were happy for they had their art and they had each other. They were mighty happy as long as their money lasted. Joe started learning painting at the famous painter,Mr Magister. His fees were high but his lessons were light. Delia was studying under a famous musician Mr Rosenstock. They were mighty happy as long as their money lasted. Joe wanted to paint pictures which had great demand the gentlemen would fight among themselves for buying them. Delia was to master the piano so and fill concert halls all over the country with people who would pay twice the usual rates to hear her play.
But after a while Art became weak. Everything going out and nothing coming in. There was no money to pay the fees of Mr Magister and Mr Rosenstock so Delia thought to give music to pupil. Delia told Joe that she was teaching music to General A.B.Pinkney’s daughter on Seventy-First Street. Her name was Clementina, a girl of eighteen years. Joe wanted to sell papers or break stones to bring in a dollar or two. But Delia advised Joe not to give up his learning of painting under Mr Magister. She convinced Joe.
During all of the next week the Larabees had an early breakfast. He was very much interested in some morning effect sketches. Art is a charming mistress. Joe gets eighteen dollars a weak. Joe told Delia that a fat man with a bald head bought one of his paintings and ordered another.
On the next Saturday evening Joe reached home first. He spread his eighteen dollars on the dining table. He washed what seemed to be a great deal of dark paint form his hands. Half an hour later, Delia arrived home with a bandage on her right hand when she was asked about it by Joe, Delia arrived, her hand tied up in a shapeless bundle of wraps and bandages. Joe asked about that. Delia said that Clementina while serving the Welsh rabbit, had spilled hot curry over her hand and wrist. The old gentleman Gen. A.B.Pinkney nearly went mad. He rushed down stairs to send somebody out to a drug store for some oil and things to find it up with. When Joe enquired her about the white threads beneath the bandages, she replied that there was oil on it. Also he came to know she burnt her hand at five o’ clock. He drew her to the sofa , sat beside her and put his arms across her shoulders. They revealed the truth to each other. He was working in the engine room and she was ironing in the same laundry.
It was Joe who sent up that cotton waste and oil from the engine room that afternoon for a girl in the upstairs who had her hand burned with an iron box. He had been working in the engine room in the laundry for the last two weeks. His buyer of paintings from Peoria and Gen. A.B Pinkney are both creations of the same art. One wouldn’t call it either painting or music. The cat is out of the bag that is, the secrets are revealed. “When one loves one’s art no service seems too hard”. They were indeed a loving and hardworking couple.Delia endured hard work in order not to be a burden to Joe. It also reveals her great love and deep concern for Joe and vice- versa. So, the story is more about love than about great art. “When one loves one’s art no service seems too hard”.