Workers
We were at a meeting laying down the targets for 1984,
when news came of Dr Brahm Prakash’s death on the
evening of 3 January at Bombay. It was a great emotional
loss for me, for I had had the privilege of working under him
during the most challenging period of my career. His
compassion and humility were exemplary. His healing
touch on the day of the failed SLV-E1 flight surfaced in my
memory serving to deepen my sorrow.
If Prof. Sarabhai was the creator of VSSC, Dr Brahm
Prakash was the executor. He had nurtured the institution
when it most needed nourishment. Dr Brahm Prakash
played a very important role in shaping my leadership skills.
In fact my association with him was a turning point in my
life. His humility mellowed me and helped me discard my
aggressive approach. His humility did not consist merely in
being modest about his talents or virtues, but in respecting
the dignity of all those who worked under him and in
recognizing the fact that no one is infallible, not even the
leader. He was an intellectual giant with a frail constitution;
he had a childlike innocence and I always considered him a
saint among scientists.
During this period of renaissance at DRDL, an altitude
control system and an on-board computer developed by P
Banerjee, KV Ramana Sai and their team was almost
ready. The success of this effort was very vital for any
indigenous missile development programme. All the same,
we had to have a missile to test this important system.
After many brainstorming sessions, we decided to
improvise a Devil missile to test the system. A Devil missile
was dis-assembled, many modifications made, extensive
subsystem testing was done and the missile checkout
system was reconfigured. After installing a make-shift
launcher, the modified and extended range Devil missile
was fired on 26 June 1984 to flight test the first indigenous
Strap-down Inertial Guidance system. The system met all
the requirements. This was the first and very significant
step in the history of Indian missile development, which had
so far been restricted to reverse engineering, towards
designing our own systems. A long-denied opportunity was
at last utilized by missile scientists at DRDL. The message
was loud and clear. We could do it!
It did not take long for the message to reach Delhi.
Prime Minister Indira Gandhi expressed her desire to
personally apprise herself of the progress of the IGMDP.
The entire organization was filled with an aura of
excitement. On 19 July 1984, Shrimati Gandhi visited
DRDL.
Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was a person with a
tremendous sense of pride—in herself, in her work and in
her country. I deemed it an honour to receive her at DRDL
as she had instilled some of her own pride into my
otherwise modest frame of mind. She was immensely
conscious that she was the leader of eight hundred million
people. Every step, every gesture, every movement of her
hands was optimised. The esteem in which she held our
work in the field of guided missiles boosted our morale
immensely.
During the one hour that she spent at DRDL, she
covered wideranging aspects of the IGMDP, from flight
system plans to multiple development laboratories. In the
end, she addressed the 2000-strong DRDL community.
She asked for the schedules of the flight system that we
were working on. “When are you going to flight test Prithvi?”