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BOOK REVIEW : WINGS OF FIRE

 BOOK REVIEW

 

	Name of the Book	Wings of Fire
	Name of the Author	Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam & Arun Kumar Tiwari
	Name of the Publisher	Sangam Books Limited
	Pages	196
	Cost of the Book	Rs. 425/-

 If you want to know more about APJ Abdul Kalam, then this book is for you.  He was a hardworking student, dedicated missile scientist and a well-liked leader.  This story will tell you about her journey from her childhood in Tamil Nadu to DRDO and her important contribution to ISRO.  In this book, you will learn many things about aerospace. You will also learn important lessons of life from APJ, called India's Missile Man.

 Wings of fire :  Who should read this book?

 Students, teachers, who want to become scientists, who want to become civil servants.

 Wings of fire : About the anther:

 APJ Abdul Kalam is a Missile Scientist and former President of India.  He is affectionately called Missile Man.  Arun Tiwari is a Professor and Missile Scientist.  He has worked with Kalam in DRDO. Together, he has written 5 books.

About the childhood of APJ Abdul Kalam, author of wings of fire -:

 A.P.J.  Abdul Kalam says I am a deep well on this land for uncountable boys and girls to quench their thirst.  His unselfish mercy rains on Zarere just as the well quenches everyone's thirst.  Such a story is the story of Mary, Zainulbadin and Ashinamma's son.  The story of a boy who helped his brother by selling newspapers.  The story of the protagonist who was raised by Shiva Subramaniam Iyer and Anna Doraisolomon.  The story of the student trained by the Pendule Master, M.G.K.  Menon and Professor Sarabhai gave the identity of the engineer.  The one who grew up in failure and difficulties became Sayinsdan, and the story of the primate who was accompanied by a team of uncountable, capable and skilled people.

 My story will end with me because in the worldly ways I have no capital, I have not gained anything, I have not accumulated, I have nothing and no one, neither my son, nor daughter nor family.  I do not want to be an example for others, but maybe some reading people will be praised that the ultimate happiness is spirit and soul, God has mercy, their heritage.  My great grandfather Avul, my grandfather Fakir and my father Janelubdin's dynasty will end on Abdul Kalam, but God will never die because he is immortal.

 My father used to narrate even the most difficult spiritual matters in the common language of Tamil.  Once said to me "When trouble comes, try to understand the cause of the trouble, difficulty always gives you the chance to test yourself".

 I have always tried to follow Abba's Usulu in my science and technology.  I believe that there is a great power above us, a great power that takes us out of trouble, despair and failure to reach the point of truth.

 I was about six years old when Abba decided to make a wooden kayak in which he could take the passengers from Rameswaram to Dhanushkoti.  Take it and bring it back.  Ahmad Jalaludin with another relative, later he was married to Mary Apa Zohra.  Ahmad Jalaludin, although fifteen years older than me, our friendship was frozen.  Jalaludin could not read much because of the condition of his house, but the time I am talking about, in those days there was only one person in our area who knew how to write English.

And one person who took a lot of trouble in my childhood was my cousin, my cousin Shamsudin and he had a newspaper contract in Rameswaram and used to do all the work alone.  Every morning the newspaper reached Rameswaram railway station by train.  The second Alamgir war started in 1939, The Second Word War, at the time I was eight years old.  An emergency-like situation had arisen.  Only the first accident was that the train stop at Rameswaram station was canceled and the newspapers were now thrown from the moving train on the road passing between Rameswaram and Dhanushkoti.  Shamsudeen was forced to keep a helper who could collect newspapers from the road, I got that chance and Shamsuddin became the reason for my first income.

 In 1950, I joined St. Joseph's College Trichy to study Intermediate.  It was only after passing B.Sc. that I knew that physics was not my subject.

 During the engineering of APJ Abdul Kalam, the author of Wings of Fire: -

Somehow I got in the list of candidates of MIT i.e. Madras Engineering and Technology but its admission was very expensive, at least one thousand rupees was required and my father did not have that much money.  My aka, my temper Zohra at that time, sold her gold rings and chains and used my fees.

I had consulted him even before enrolling in mechanical engineering.  He explained to me that before deciding to "Mustakabil, one should not think of Mustakabil's potential but rather for a good foundation and how much strength is there in Aptitude and Inspiration about their instincts and relationships."  .  I want to tell the engineer students who are themselves that when they choose their specialization, then it has to be seen how much hobby and passion they have to go to that hobby.

 From MIT, I joined Hindustan Aeronautical Limited, Bangalore as a trainee.  When I came out of HAL as a graduate in aeronautical engineering, life gave me two opportunities.  There was an opportunity for the Directorate of Technical Development and Production in Airforce's second Ministry of Defense.  I sent an application to both of them and an interview was invited from both of them.  I was called to Dehradun for the Air Force and Delhi for defense.  Gave an interview with the defense ministry.  The interview was good from there, I went to Dehradun for an interview with the Air Force Selection Board.  I came in number nine in twenty five hopefuls.  My heart sank.

 I was very disappointed and regretted for several days that the opportunity to go to the Air Force was lost.  I left for Rishikesh, then a few days later I returned to Delhi.

 In response to my interview in defense, I was handed an appointment letter.  And from the next day, Senior Scientific Assistant was released on a salary of 250 rupees per month.  Three years passed.  In those days, a new department of Aeronautical Development Establishment ADE opened in Bangalore and I was posted there.

 I went to Mumbai to give interviews.  Among those interviewing me were Vikram Sarabhai, MGK Menon, Mr. Saraf, who was then the deputy secretary of the Atomic Energy Commission.  The very next day I received the news that I had been selected.  I was inducted as a rocket engineer at Incospar.  In 1962, somewhere in Derena, Incospar decided to build Equatorial Rocket Launch Station at Thumba.  Thumba is the name of a high-altitude village in Daraz, beyond Trivandrum in Kerala.  Shortly thereafter, I was sent to America for six months.  To train rocket launching at NASA.  Before leaving I took a little time and went to Rameswaram.  My father was very happy for my success.

Soon after I returned from NASA, the first rocket launch of India happened.  November 21, 1963, it was the sounding rocket, named Apache Nike.  After the success of Nike Apache, Prof Sarabhai expressed his resume, his dream.  Dream of an Indian satellite launch vehicle ISLV.  The dream of the Indian rocket can also be called the dream of the 20th century.
 After the battle of Tirunelveli in 1799, those rockets were sent to England by William Kangeri for investigation.  To understand his technique, which we call reverse engineering in today's Science Juban. Two rockets were spontaneously cooked and thundered in Thumba, one being Rohini and the other Manika.

On Republic Day 1990, the country celebrated the success of the fire and missile program.  I was awarded the Padma Vibhushan and also Dr. Arunachalam.

 

APJ Abdul Kalam, writer of Wings of Fire - in his last days -:

A room of 10 by 12 is full of books and some necessary furniture which was rented.  I think the youth of my country need a clear vision and a direction only when I intend that I should mention all those people, because of which I could become this.  The motive was not that I should take the names of great people, but that no person, no matter how small, should not be encouraged.
 Issues, difficulties are part of life and trouble is the truth of success.  As someone has said that "God did not promise that the sky will always be blue, there will be full of flowers filled with life, God has not promised that there will be no clouds if there is sun, no happiness, no sorrow.  There will be no pain.  I have no qualms about making my life an example for everyone, but it may be that a desolate child who lives in an anonymous place who belongs to a section of society, read it and gets rest, read it and his  Hope brightens up.  It may be that they bring some children out of hope and that they feel compulsion should not feel compelled. They believe that God is with them wherever they are.  Wish every Indian has a burning flame, and the flame of that flame will brighten the whole sky.