Gone but never forgotten : India's Missile Man, Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kalam
20th October 2016.
Avul PakirJainulabdeen 'A.P.J' Abdul Kalam, the 'People's President' was born on 15th October 1931. He was the 11th president of India from 2002 to 2007, a president and leader loved by one and all. Kalam was born into a middle-class Tamil family in the town of Rameswaram (Madras state). He was a visionary, a scientist, a writer ,was later elected as President of India ( 2002,in the last years of his life) and many other beautiful things. His demise on 27th July 2015 saddened the world because by then we all knew what a great person had left this planet. However, the 'missile man' has gone but shall never be forgotten.
On the 18th of October 2016, a 'National Symposium' on "Lessons on project Management from Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kalam" was hosted by the Apeejay Stya University at the Apeejay school of Management (Dwarka,India) to commemorate the birth month of Dr. Kalam where his former colleagues and friends (scientists from all over the country) turned up to pay tribute to Dr. Kalam and also to enlighten us through this symposium on various themes such as, " Dr. Kalam : an inspiration in testing time" by Dr. P.K Mehta (Director General - Armament and Combat Engineering System,DRDO,Ministry of Defence) " in session 1 of the symposium, key note address by Dr. Chitra Rajagopal (Director,Centre for Fire Explosive and environment safety,Ministry of Defence,Delhi) on "Experience in leading project teams" (session 1) and interesting talk given on "Team building :Dr.Kalam's style" by Dr. Tessy Thomas-the first Indian woman scientist to make a mark as a project director for mission 'AGNI 4' which was successfully tested in 2011( session 1 ends with Dr. Thomas' talk).
Dr. Pravin K.Mehta mentioned how their team failed three times before the actual launch of 'AGNI 1' but Dr.Kalam never discouraged them and never blamed them as a team. He said,"Nobody knew how to handle the situation, the ground system failed." But Dr. Kalam being Dr. Kalam, he calmed everybody down and saw "a positive aspect in the most difficult situation" and told the teammates to "work out why it has happened,find out the reason so that it won't happen again," because according to Dr.Kalam; the team had "saved the people because it was dangerous to push off the missile" in that condition. This shows Dr.Kalam's never dying optimism and his empathy towards the people he worked with and genuine love for people and hard work. Dr. Mehta gave a brilliant example that would surely resonate. He said that Dr.A.P.J Abdul Kalam is a charismatic person who was like a "Paras Pathar" (sorcerer's stone) because whoever came in contact with him would be transformed forever. Dr. Tessy Thomas had similar experiences while working with Dr. Kalam judging from what she had said during the symposium. "Kalam was the true techno-managerial expert",said Dr.Tessy Thomas. She also said that Dr.Kalam, as a true leader instilled the brilliant work ethic in them and made sure that they had to "define a goal" because a "balloon exists if air exists". Dr. Tessy Thomas and the other prominent scientists who were giving the talks emphasised on a common factor which is the importance of TEAM WORK. They talked about how these massive projects were executed successfully through intense hard work, persistence and team work- and that, was majorly possible because Dr. Kalam believed in each and every one of them and also encouraged people he worked with that resulted in brilliant work force because everyone gave their best in the work they did and that's definitely a nature of a fierce leader, isn't it ?
However, the one speaker whose story stayed with me amongst all the inspiring tales was that of Mr. Sudhir Mishra who spoke in the second session of the symposium.
Shri Sudhir Mishra is an outstanding scientist of India. He is also the chief controller (R & D ), DRDO ( Defence Research and Development Organisation, India ) and CEO & MD of 'BrahMos Aerospace' which is an India-Russia joint venture. He did his M.Tech in mechanical engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, Madras. Shri Mishra spoke on "Transforming dream to vision and vision to reality in lifetime : lessons as taught by Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kalam" in the symposium(session 2). Scientist Sudhir Mishra joined DRDO in the year 1984 where Dr.Kalam was recently moved to DRDO. As a young recruit, he went to meet Dr. Kalam and the first question Dr. Kalam asked him was if he could build him a missile. Mr. Mishra had not been expecting such a question to his surprise, he thought about the question and responded positively even though he had told him that he didn't know how to make a missile. Mr. Sudhir Mishra explained that he did not understand the ordeal until later in his life because he understood that Dr. Kalam did not want somebody who "knew how to make a missile" but he wanted somebody "who would be willing to make one". That's how he landed his first paying job at DRDO, getting an opportunity to work with Dr. Kalam who of course, changed his life. Mr. Mishra said, " Kalam brought five projects with him to a dead company and gave life to DRDO." According to Mr. Mishra, Dr.Kalam transformed DRDO and the work environment and space while he was there because of his enthusiasm, zeal, optimism and his 'never say die' attitude. Under his great leadership, DRDO flourished and went on to do great things for the country. It all started with a dream and a vision. Dr. Kalam's dream was to make India a developed country where we would be the first to do something epic in the world and he worked and dedicated his entire life to make that dream a reality, thus the transformation. Mr. Mishra also added that Dr. Kalam was a phenomenon. Dr. Sudhir Mishra went on to develop a "cruise missile" (which is the only one of its kind and the first in this world today) under the guidance of Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kalam. He became the CEO of Brahmas Aerospace whose most recent venture is "to realise reusable HYPERSONIC PAYLOAD DELIVERY VEHICLE" which was inspired from the 'SUDHARSHAN CHAKRA' that Lord Krishna uses in his battles of the Mahabharata as per the great Hindu epic mythology.
Avul PakirJainulabdeen 'A.P.J' Abdul Kalam, the 'People's President' was born on 15th October 1931. He was the 11th president of India from 2002 to 2007, a president and leader loved by one and all. Kalam was born into a middle-class Tamil family in the town of Rameswaram (Madras state). He was a visionary, a scientist, a writer ,was later elected as President of India ( 2002,in the last years of his life) and many other beautiful things. His demise on 27th July 2015 saddened the world because by then we all knew what a great person had left this planet. However, the 'missile man' has gone but shall never be forgotten.
On the 18th of October 2016, a 'National Symposium' on "Lessons on project Management from Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kalam" was hosted by the Apeejay Stya University at the Apeejay school of Management (Dwarka,India) to commemorate the birth month of Dr. Kalam where his former colleagues and friends (scientists from all over the country) turned up to pay tribute to Dr. Kalam and also to enlighten us through this symposium on various themes such as, " Dr. Kalam : an inspiration in testing time" by Dr. P.K Mehta (Director General - Armament and Combat Engineering System,DRDO,Ministry of Defence) " in session 1 of the symposium, key note address by Dr. Chitra Rajagopal (Director,Centre for Fire Explosive and environment safety,Ministry of Defence,Delhi) on "Experience in leading project teams" (session 1) and interesting talk given on "Team building :Dr.Kalam's style" by Dr. Tessy Thomas-the first Indian woman scientist to make a mark as a project director for mission 'AGNI 4' which was successfully tested in 2011( session 1 ends with Dr. Thomas' talk).
Dr. Pravin K.Mehta mentioned how their team failed three times before the actual launch of 'AGNI 1' but Dr.Kalam never discouraged them and never blamed them as a team. He said,"Nobody knew how to handle the situation, the ground system failed." But Dr. Kalam being Dr. Kalam, he calmed everybody down and saw "a positive aspect in the most difficult situation" and told the teammates to "work out why it has happened,find out the reason so that it won't happen again," because according to Dr.Kalam; the team had "saved the people because it was dangerous to push off the missile" in that condition. This shows Dr.Kalam's never dying optimism and his empathy towards the people he worked with and genuine love for people and hard work. Dr. Mehta gave a brilliant example that would surely resonate. He said that Dr.A.P.J Abdul Kalam is a charismatic person who was like a "Paras Pathar" (sorcerer's stone) because whoever came in contact with him would be transformed forever. Dr. Tessy Thomas had similar experiences while working with Dr. Kalam judging from what she had said during the symposium. "Kalam was the true techno-managerial expert",said Dr.Tessy Thomas. She also said that Dr.Kalam, as a true leader instilled the brilliant work ethic in them and made sure that they had to "define a goal" because a "balloon exists if air exists". Dr. Tessy Thomas and the other prominent scientists who were giving the talks emphasised on a common factor which is the importance of TEAM WORK. They talked about how these massive projects were executed successfully through intense hard work, persistence and team work- and that, was majorly possible because Dr. Kalam believed in each and every one of them and also encouraged people he worked with that resulted in brilliant work force because everyone gave their best in the work they did and that's definitely a nature of a fierce leader, isn't it ?
However, the one speaker whose story stayed with me amongst all the inspiring tales was that of Mr. Sudhir Mishra who spoke in the second session of the symposium.
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| From left to right : The blogger, Ashok Ogra(Dean, Apeejay school of Mass Comm.Dwarka) and scientist Sudhir Mishra |
In short, Dr. A.P.J Kalam was a true peoples' person and also a people's President and the best one we have had in ages. The country was honoured the day he was born- a sheer genius, a humble man who was an innate wise individual who transformed the lives of millions with his magic.
May long live his legacy and may he continue to inspire the young minds of today because we need leaders like him. It is so very rare.
With great love to Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kalam ~ A very happy birthday to you Sir !
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