to share their power with others and work in teams,
delegating good jobs, assimilating fresh opinions,
respecting intelligent people, and listening to wise counsel.
They would have to be able to sort out things amicably, and
take responsibility for slip-ups. Above all, they should be
able to take failure in their stride and share in both success
and failure.
My search for someone to lead the Prithvi project ended
with Col VJ Sundaram who belonged to the EME Corps of
the Indian Army. With a post-graduate degree in
Aeronautical Engineering and expertise in mechanical
vibrations, Sundaram was head of the Structures Group at
DRDL. I found in him a readiness to experiment with new
ways of resolving conflicting points of view. He was an
experimenter and innovator in team work. He had an
extraordinary capability for evaluating alternative ways of
operating. He would suggest moving forward into new
terrains that could lead to a solution which had not been
perceived earlier. Though a particular goal might be clear
to a project leader, and he may be capable of giving
adequate directions for accomplishing it, there can be
resistance from subordinates if the goal makes no sense to
them. Therein lies the importance of a leader who provides
effective work directions. I thought the Project Director of
Prithvi would be the first to make decisions with production
agencies and the armed forces, and Sundaram would be
the ideal choice to see that sound decisions were taken.
For Trishul, I was looking for a man who not only had a
sound knowledge of electronics and missile warfare, but
who could also communicate the complexities to his team
in order to promote understanding and to earn his team’s
support. I found in Cmde SR Mohan, who sailed into
Defence R&D from the Indian Navy, a talent for detail and
an almost magical power of persuasion.
For Agni, my dream project, I needed somebody who
would tolerate my occasional meddling in the running of this
project. In RN Agarwal I found the right person. He was an
alumnus of MIT with a brilliant academic record and had
been managing the Aeronautical Test Facilities at DRDL
with keen professional acumen.
Due to technological complexities, Akash and Nag
were then considered missiles of the future; their activities
were expected to peak about half a decade later.
Therefore, I selected the relatively young Prahlada and NR
Iyer for Akash and Nag. Two other young men, VK
Saraswat and AK Kapoor were made deputies to
Sundaram and Mohan respectively.
In those days, there was no forum in DRDL where
issues of general importance could be openly discussed
and decisions debated. Scientists, it must be remembered,
are basically emotional people. Once they stumble, it is
difficult for them to pull themselves together. Setbacks and
disappointments have always been and always will be an
inherent part of any career, even one in science. However, I
did not want any of my scientists to face disappointments
alone. I also wanted to ensure that none of them set their
goals when they were at a low ebb. To avoid such
eventualities a Science Council was created—a sort of
panchayat where the community would sit together and
take common decisions. Every three months, all scientists
—juniors and seniors, veterans and freshers— would sit
together and let off steam.
The very first meeting of the Council was eventful. After
a spell of half-hearted enquiries and expressions of doubt,
one senior scientist, MN Rao, shot a straight question: “On