Achievers
I started my work at NASA at the Langley Research Centre ( LRC ) in Hampton , Virginia . This is primarily an R & D centre for advanced aerospace technology . One of my most vivid memories of LRC is of a piece of sculpture depicting a charioteer driving two horses , one representing scientific research and the other technological development , metaphorically encapsulating the interconnection between research and development .
From LRC I went to the Goddard Space Flight Centre ( GSFC ) at Greenbelt , Maryland . This Centre develops and manages most of NASA ’ s earth-orbiting science and applications satellites . It operates NASA ’ s tracking networks for all space missions . Towards the end of my visit , I went to the Wallops Flight Facility at Wallops Island in East Coast , Virginia . This place was the base for NASA ’ s sounding rocket programme . Here , I saw a painting prominently displayed in the reception lobby . It depicted a battle scene with a few rockets flying in the background . A painting with this theme should be the most commonplace thing at a Flight Facility , but the painting caught my eye because the soldiers on the side launching the rockets were not white , but dark-skinned , with the racial features of people found in South Asia . One day , my curiosity got the better of me , drawing me towards the painting . It turned out to be Tipu Sultan ’ s army fighting the British . The painting depicted a fact forgotten in Tipu ’ s own country but commemorated here on the other side of the planet . I was happy to see an Indian glorified by NASA as a hero of warfare rocketry .
My impression of the American people can be summarized by a quotation from Benjamin Franklin , “ Those things that hurt instruct !” I realised that people in this part of the world meet their problems head on . They attempt to get out of them rather than suffer them .
My mother had once narrated an incident from the Holy Book — after God created man , he asked the angels to prostrate themselves before Adam . Everybody prostrated themselves except Iblis , or Satan , who refused . “ Why did you not prostrate yourself ?” Allah asked . “ You created me of fire and him of clay . Does not that make me nobler than Adam ?” Satan contended . God said , “ Be gone from paradise ! This is no place for your contemptuous pride .” Satan obeyed , but not before cursing Adam with the same fate . Soon Adam followed suit by becoming a transgressor after eating the forbidden fruit . Allah said , “ Go hence and may your descendants live a life of doubt and mistrust .”
What makes life in Indian organizations difficult is the widespread prevalence of this very contemptuous pride . It stops us from listening to our juniors , subordinates and people down the line . You cannot expect a person to deliver results if you humiliate him , nor can you expect him to be creative if you abuse him or despise him . The line between firmness and harshness , between strong leadership and bullying , between discipline and vindictiveness is very fine , but it has to be drawn . Unfortunately , the only line prominently drawn in our country today is between the ‘ heroes ’ and the ‘ zeros ’. On one side are a few hundred ‘ heroes ’ keeping nine hundred and fifty million people down on the other side . This situation has to be changed . As the process of confronting and solving problems often requires hard work and is painful , we have endless