Book Review "Wings of Fire" By Mr. A P J Abdul Kalam

The Book "Wings of Fire" is the autobiography of "The Missile Man of India", Mr. A P J Abdul Kalam, also the 11th President of the Republic of India from 2002 - 2007. A fast moving and a lucidly written book, which can lend itself to be made into a movie; it traces the life of Mr. Kalam from his cradle till the end of 20th century. (i.e. before he became the President of India)

The book lays great emphasis on the professional life of Mr. Kalam and chronicles his journey as he gets cherry-picked for one plum assignment after another, on the basis of his sheer hard work, devotion and the work ethics displayed by him. The work ethics, which merit a special mention, are worth emulating and in my personal opinion should be made a must read for all professionals - private or government. For instance, he speaks about how individual contributions when aggregated over several team members and contributions of teams when aggregated throughout organizations, culminates into the contributions of a nation state. Meaning that the economy and ethical underpinnings of a country ultimately depend on the work contributions and ethics of each individual citizen - sentiments very similar to what is preached in The Bhagwat Gita i.e. ensure your personal effort and the rest will follow.

Despite his humble beginnings, Mr. Kalam was a curious child, who had the ability to learn from his environment as much as from the text books, which he could ill afford in the early days of his life. Moving from scholarship to scholarship, the early chapters of the book trace his brilliant academic travails as he impresses his teachers with not only his technical capabilities but also with the honesty of his efforts. One of his eureka moments was when his college professor (aeronautics department) invites him, during the annual class photograph, to share the seat next to all the professors instead of sitting with the students - a recognition and an honor which spoke of his popularity with his teachers!

While starting his career even though Mr. Kalam narrowly missed out on becoming an Indian Air Force fighter pilot, but he realized his dreams of being associated with the aircrafts by inventing the first indigenously developed hovercraft for the Indian military. Though the project was later shelved but Mr. Kalam continued his tryst with the airborne vehicles through his stints at DRDO, ISRO and DRDL, of which he was the first Director. The high points of his career were the launching of SLV 3 (Space Launch Vehicle) and the success of India's IGMDP (Integrated Missile Development Programme), aimed at making India among the select few nations, to have its own indigenously developed Missile Systems for all the three forces of the defence establishment.

All in all the book is a page turner which arouses in all Indians a patriotic fervor, felt and shared equivocally by Mr. Kalam with Indians from all walks of life. A devout muslim, Mr. Kalam was none-the-less well versed with the Bhagwat Gita and the Bible. His interest in poetry is very easily discernible through a generous lacing of the book with short poems and couplets, which precisely emphasize the emotions Mr. Kalam is trying to convey. All these factors and more, make this book a delight to read and is my recommendation for all Indians to read at some point.