Wings of fire - Sir APJ ABDUL KALAM Wings of fire | Page 69

points I failed to listen to, and suggested possibilities that I
had not so much as visualized.
We learned the hard way that the biggest problem of
project management is to achieve a regular and efficient
interfacing between the different individuals and work
centres. Hard work can be set at nought in the absence of
proper coordination.
I had the fortune of having YS Rajan from the ISRO
headquarters as my friend in those times. Rajan was (and
is) a universal friend. His friendship embraced with equal
warmth turners, fitters, electricians and drivers as well as
scientists, engineers, contractors and bureaucrats. Today
when the press calls me a ‘welder of people’, I attribute this
to Rajan. His close interaction with different work centres
created such a harmony in SLV affairs that the fine threads
of individual efforts were woven into a mighty fabric of great
strength.
In 1976, my father passed away. He had been in poor
health for quite some time due to his advanced age. The
death of Jallaluddin had also taken a toll on his health and
spirit. He had lost his desire to live, as though after seeing
Jallaluddin return to his divine source, he too had become
eager to return to his.
Whenever I learnt about my father’s indifferent health, I
would visit Rameswaram with a good city doctor. Every
time I did so, he would chide me for my unnecessary
concern and lecture me on the expenses incurred on the
doctor. “Your visit is enough for me to get well, why bring a
doctor and spend money on his fees?” he would ask. This
time he had gone beyond the capabilities of any doctor,
care or money. My father Jainulabdeen, who had lived on
Rameswaram island for 102 years, had passed away
leaving behind fifteen grandchildren and one
greatgrandson. He had led an exemplary life. Sitting alone,
on the night after the burial, I remembered a poem written
on the death of Yeats by his friend Auden, and felt as if it
was written for my father:
Earth, receive an honoured guest;
William Yeats is laid to rest:
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
In the prison of his daysTeach the
free man how to praise.
In worldly terms, it was the death of just another old man.
No public mourning was organized, no flags were lowered
to half-mast, no newspaper carried an obituary for him. He
was not a politician, a scholar, or a businessman. He was a
plain and transparent man. My father pursued the supreme
value, the Good. His life inspired the growth of all that was
benign and angelic, wise and noble.
My father had always reminded me of the legendary
Abou Ben Adhem who, waking one night from a deep
dream of peace, saw an angel writing in a book of gold the
names of those who love the Lord. Abou asked the Angel if
his own name was on the list. The Angel replied in the
negative. Disappointed but still cheerful, Abou said, “Write
my name down as one that loves his fellowmen”. The angel
wrote, and vanished. The next night, it came again with a
great wakening light, and showed the names of those
whom the love of God had blessed. And Abou’s name was
the first on the list.
I sat for a long time with my mother, but could not speak.
She blessed me in a choked voice when I took leave of her
to return to Thumba. She knew that she was not to leave the
house of her husband, of which she was the custodian, and
I was not to live with her there. Both of us had to live out our