Wings of fire - Sir APJ ABDUL KALAM Wings of fire | 页面 25

vexing question of “scientific temper” and my own spiritual
interests. The value system in which I had been nurtured
was profoundly religious. I had been taught that true reality
lay beyond the material world in the spiritual realm, and that
knowledge could be obtained only through inner
experience.
Meanwhile, when I had finished my course work, I was
assigned a project to design a low-level attack aircraft
together with four other colleagues. I had taken up the
responsibility of preparing and drawing the aerodynamic
design. My team mates distributed among themselves the
tasks of designing the propulsion, structure, control and
instrumentation of the aircraft. One day, my design teacher,
Prof. Srinivasan, then the Director of the MIT, reviewed my
progress and declared it dismal and disappointing. I
offered a dozen excuses for the delay, but none of them
impressed Prof. Srinivasan. I finally pleaded for a month’s
time to complete the task. The Professor looked at me for
some time and said, “Look, young man, today is Friday
afternoon. I give you three days’ time. If by Monday morning
I don’t get the configuration drawing, your scholarship will
be stopped.” I was dumbstruck. The scholarship was my
lifeline and I would be quite helpless if it was withdrawn. I
could see no other way out but to finish the task as I had
been instructed. That night, I remained at the drawing
board, skipping dinner. Next morning, I took only an hour’s
break to freshen up and eat a little food. On Sunday
morning, I was very near completion, when suddenly I felt
someone else’s presence in the room. Prof. Srinivasan
was watching me from a distance. Coming straight from the
gymkhana, he was still in his tennis outfit and had dropped
in to see my progress. After examining my work, Prof.
Srinivasan hugged me affectionately and patted my back in
appreciation. He said, “I knew I was putting you under
stress and asking you to meet an impossible deadline. I
never expected you to perform so well.”
During the rest of the period of the project, I participated
in an essay competition organized by the MIT Tamil
Sangam (Literary Society). Tamil is my mother tongue and I
am proud of its origins, which have been traced back to
Sage Agastya in the pre-Ramayana period; its literature
dates back to the fifth century BC. It is said to be a
language moulded by lawyers and grammarians and is
internationally acclaimed for its clear-cut logic. I was very
enthusiastic about ensuring that science did not remain
outside the purview of this wonderful language. I wrote an
article entitled “Let Us Make Our Own Aircraft” in Tamil. The
article evoked much interest and I won the competition,
taking the first prize from ‘Devan’, the editor of the popular
Tamil weekly, Ananda Vikatan.
My most touching memory of MIT is related to Prof.
Sponder. We were posing for a group photograph as part
of a farewell ritual. All the graduating students had lined up
in three rows with the professors seated in the front.
Suddenly, Prof. Sponder got up and looked for me. I was
standing in the third row. “Come and sit with me in the
front,” he said. I was taken aback by Prof. Sponder’s
invitation. “You are my best student and hard work will help
you bring a great name for your teachers in future.”
Embarrassed by the praise but honoured by the
recognition, I sat with Prof. Sponder for the photograph.
“Let God be your hope, your stay, your guide and provide
the lantern for your feet in your journey into the future,” said
the introverted genius, bidding me adieu.
From MIT, I went to Hindustan Aeronautics Limited