My first Magazine Wings of Fire | Page 128

Emancipators O n Republic Day 1990, the nation celebrated the success of its missile programme. I was conferred the Padma Vibhushan along with Dr Arunachalam. Two of my other colleagues— JC Bhattacharya and RN Agarwal—were also decorated with the Padma Shree awards. It was the first time in the history of free India that so many scientists affiliated to the same organization found their names on the awards list. Memories of the Padma Bhushan awarded a decade ago came alive. I still lived more or less as I had lived then—in a room ten feet wide and twelve feet long, furnished mainly with books, papers and a few pieces of hired furniture. The only difference was at that time, my room was in Trivandrum and now it was in Hyderabad. The mess bearer brought me my breakfast of idlis and buttermilk and smiled in silent congratulation for the award. I was touched by the recognition bestowed on me by my countrymen. A large number of scientists and engineers leave this country at their first opportunity to earn more money abroad. It is true that they definitely get greater monetary benefits, but could anything compensate for this love and respect from one’s own countrymen? I sat alone for a while in silent contemplation. The sand and shells of Rameswaram, the care of Iyadurai Solomon in Ramanathapuram, the guidance of Rev. Father Sequeira in Trichi and Prof. Pandalai in Madras, the encouragement of Dr Mediratta in Bangalore, the hovercraft ride with Prof. Menon, the pre-dawn visit to the Tilpat Range with Prof. Sarabhai, the healing touch of Dr Brahm Prakash on the day of the SLV3 failure, the national jubilation on the SLV-3 launch, Madam Gandhi’s appreciative smile, the post-SLV- 3 simmering at VSSC, Dr Ramanna’s faith in inviting me to DRDO, the IGMDP, the creation of RCI, Prithvi, Agni...a flood of memories swept over me. Where were all these men now? My father, Prof. Sarabhai, Dr Brahm Prakash? I wished I could meet them and share my joy with them. I felt the paternal forces of heaven and the maternal and cosmic forces of nature embrace me as parents would hug their long-lost child. I scribbled in my diary: Away! fond thoughts, and vex my soul no more! Work claimed my wakeful nights, my busy days Albeit brought memories of Rameswaram shore Yet haunt my dreaming gaze! A fortnight later, Iyer and his team celebrated the awards for the missile programme with the maiden flight of Nag. They repeated the feat again on the very next day, thus testing twice over the first Indian all-composite airframe and the propulsion system. These tests also proved the worth of the indigenous thermal batteries. India had achieved the status of having a third generation anti-tank missile system with ‘fire-and-forget’ capability—on par with any stateof-the-art technology in the world. Indigenous composite technology had achieved a major milestone. The success of Nag also confirmed the efficacy of the consortium approach, which had led to the successful development of Agni. Nag uses two key technologies—an Imaging Infra Red (IIR) system and a Millimetric Wave (MMW) seeker radar as its guiding eye. No single laboratory in the country possessed the capability of developing these highly