Wings of fire

Wings of Fire (1999), is the autobiography of the Missile Man of India and President of India, Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam. It was written by him and Arun Tiwari. Kalam was born on October 15, 1931, the son of a little educated boat owner in Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu. His father was also the imam of the small mosque in Rameswaram. He had an unparalleled career as a defence scientist, culminating in the highest civilian award of India, Bharat Ratna. As chief of the country's defence research and development programmer, Kalam demonstrated a great, great potential for dynamics and innovations that existed in a seemingly moribund research establishment. This is the story of Kalam's own rise from obscurity and his personal and professional struggles, as well as the story of AGNI, TRISHUL, and NAG missiles that have become household names in India and that have raised the nation to the level of a missile power of international reckoning. Since its independence, India has sought in various ways, self-realization, adulation, and success. He is known as the missile man of India. The book begins with the childhood of Kalam. In the beginning, he introduces us to his family and tries to familiarize us with his birthplace Rameswaram. In his childhood, he was a great admirer of his father, Jainulabdeen. He was a man of great wisdom and kindness, and Pakshi Lakshmana Sastry, a close friend of his father and the head priest of the Rameswaram Temple. He had an ideal helpmate in his mother, Ashiamma. He was also influenced by his close friend, Ahmed Jalaluddin; he was about 15 years older than Kalam. With his friend, he talked about spiritual matters. This shows that he believed in spirituality and also believed in God or Khuda. He always went to Lord Shiva's temple with his friends.

In the later part of the opening chapters, he introduces his cousin Samsuddin, his school teachers, and all the people who have felt any difference amongst them. Here he expresses one event, which happened in his school days, "Rameswaram Sastry, a new teacher at his school, could not stomach a Hindu Priest's son sitting with a Muslim boy. In accordance with our social ranking as the new teacher saw it, I was asked to go and sit on the backbench. I felt very sad, and so did my parents about the incident. Lakshmana Sastry summoned the teacher, and in our presence, told the teacher that he should not spread the poison of social inequality and communal intolerance in the minds of innocent children".

He completed his school education at the Rameswaram Elementary School and Schwartz High School, Rameswaram. In 1950, he joined St. Joseph's College Trichi, to study for the B.Sc degree course when he realized that physics was not his subject. Then, at last, he applied to Madras Institute of Technology. He or his family could not afford to spend that much money on the course at Madras Institute of Technology. Zohara, his sister stood with him. When he had a specific branch of aeronautical engineering, the goal was very clear in his mind at that time. And he tried to communicate with different kinds of people. At Madras Institute of Technology, their teachers shaped his thoughts, Prof. Sponder, Prof. Kal Pandalai, and Prof. Narasingalu Rao. Each of them had carried distinct personality. Last year Madras Institute of Technology was a year of transition and had a great impact on his later life. From Madras Institute of Technology, he went out to Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, [HAL], at Bangalore as a trainer. There he worked on engine overhauling as part of a team. He had trained in radial engine-cum- drum operations. After the completion of engineering, he applied for the Air Force and Directorate of Technical Development and Production –DTP and PC (Air) of the Ministry of Defence. But he was not selected for Air Force because he failed to pass the physical fitness standards. Later, he was appointed in DTP and PC (Air) as a senior scientific Assistant on a basic salary only of Rs. 250 per month, in 1950. He had to create opportunities on his own. At this stage, he covered 32 eventful years of his life when he was just on the threshold of his career after graduation. The section 'Creation' traverses seven chapters, from chapter four to chapter ten; and covers Kalam's life and work for 17 years, from the year 1963 to 1980. It begins with his recollection of works at the Langley Research Center, NASA, in Houston, Virginia, U.S., and at other facilities in the US, including the Wallops Flight Facility at Wallops Island on the East Coast of the United States, Virginia. At a NASA facility, he remembers to have seen a painting, prominently displayed in the lobby. The painting depicted a battle scene with a rocket flying in the background. On closer examination, he found that the painting depicted Tipu Sultan's army fighting the British. Kalam felt happy to see an Indian glorified in NASA as a hero of rocketry warfare.

His association with the Satellite Launch Vehicle and related projects are vividly presented in the section 'Creation'. During the period covered under 'Creation', Kalam, in the year 1976, lost his father who lived up to 102 years of age. Kalam took the bereavement with courage and remembered these words written on the death of William Butler Yeats by his friend Auden, and his father:

Earth receives an honored guest;

William Yeats is laid to rest:

In the prison of his days

Teach the free man how to praise.

The period covered in the section 'Creation' also brought Kalam national recognition. A pleasant surprise came in the form of the conferment of Padma Bhushan on Republic Day, 1981. Section Propitiation covers the period 1981 to 1991. This section covers the scientist's journey towards becoming the "missile man of India". In this section, his excellent leadership qualities as taking up the responsibility of shaping up the Guided Missile Development Program, are clearly visible. In this phase of his life, Kalam was responsible for the development of the 5 missiles – Prithvi, Trishul, Akash, Nag, and Agni.