that turn this internal power reaction critical . Sometimes , when we are ready , the gentlest of contacts with Him fills us with insight and wisdom . This could come from an encounter with another person , from a word , a question , a gesture or even a look . Many a time , it could come even through a book , a conversation , some phrase , even a line from a poem or the mere sight of a picture . Without the slightest warning , something new breaks into your life and a secret decision is taken , a decision that you may be completely unconscious of , to start with .
I looked around the elegant lounge . Somebody had left a book on a nearby sofa . As if to fill the small hours of that cold night with some warm thoughts , I picked up the book and started browsing . I must have turned only a few pages of the book , about which I do not remember a thing today .
It was some popular book related to business management . I was not really reading it , only skimming over paragraphs and turning pages . Suddenly , my eyes fell on a passage in the book , it was a quotation from George Bernard Shaw . The gist of the quote was that all reasonable men adapt themselves to the world . Only a few unreasonable ones persist in trying to adapt the world to themselves . All progress in the world depends on these unreasonable men and their innovative and often nonconformist actions .
I started reading the book from the Bernard Shaw passage onwards . The author was describing certain myths woven around the concept and the process of innovation in industry and business . I read about the myth of strategic planning . It is generally believed that substantial strategic and technological planning greatly increases the odds of a ‘ no surprises ’ outcome . The author was of the opinion that it is essential for a project manager to learn to live with uncertainty and ambiguity . He felt that it was a myth to hold that the key to economic success is computability . A quotation from General George Patton was given as a counterpoint to this myth — that a good plan violently executed right now is far better than a perfect plan executed next week . It is a myth that to win big one must strive to optimize , the author felt . Optimization wins only on paper , but would invariably lose later in the real world , the book said .
Waiting in the hotel lobby at 1 a . m . for an appointment two hours later was certainly not a reasonable proposition , neither for me nor for Prof . Sarabhai . But then , Prof . Sarabhai had always exhibited a strong component of unorthodoxy in his character . He was running the show of space research in the country — under-staffed , overworked — nevertheless in a successful manner .
Suddenly , I became aware of another man who came and sat down on the sofa opposite mine . He was a wellbuilt person with an intelligent look and refined posture . Unlike me — always disorderly in my dress — this man was wearing elegant clothes . Notwithstanding the odd hours , he was alert and vivacious .
There was a strange magnetism about him which derailed the train of my thoughts on innovation . And before I could get back to the book , I was informed that Prof . Sarabhai was ready to receive me . I left the book on the nearby sofa from where I had picked it up . I was surprised when the man sitting on the opposite sofa was also asked to come inside . Who was he ? It was not long before my question was answered . Even before we sat down , Prof . Sarabhai introduced us to each other . He was Group Captain VS Narayanan from Air Headquarters .
Prof . Sarabhai ordered coffee for both of us and