Kalam started his career as a trainee at Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) in Banglore.After that,he got two different opportunities for employment.They were Indian Air Force and a job at the Directorate of Technical Development and Productions of the Minister of Defence (DTD & P).
He applied for both and called for interviews at both places almost simultaneously.That was the first encounter of kalam with the vastness of our country.In the interviews the emphasis was mainly on personalities,physical fitness and the ability to speak well.Kalam was excited but nervous,determined but anxious,confident but tense.He was not selected in IAF.In order to overcome his disappointment he went to Rushikesh.He went to the Sivananda Ashram ther.He met Swamy Sivananda,who seemed him to be the image of Buddha.
He comforted Kalam with his words-"Accept your destiny and go ahead with your life.What you are destined to becomes not revealed as ye,but it is predetermined.Forget this failure.Think of it as a step that will lead you to your predestined path".Then he returned to Delhi and enquired at DTP & P about the outcome of his interview.In response he was handled his appointment letter.He joined as a Senior Scientific Assistant in a basic salary of Rs.250 per month.
In 1958 he was posted at the technical center (Civil Aviation).Then he was sent to Air Craft and Armament Testing Unit(A & ATU) at Kanpur to gain actual experience and practice in aircraft maintenance.IT was his first exposure to an Industrial area.The environment was completely different from his native town.Three years later.Aeronautical Development Establishment(ADE) was born in Banglore.He was posted to the new establishment.A project leader was formed to design and develop an indigenous hover craft prototype,a Ground Equipment
Mechanism(GEM).No one is veteran.they had to refer books and consult different persons knowledgeable is that area,but could find none.With the limited information and resources available,they decided to go ahead.At last produce a wingless,light swift machine opened the windows of his mind.VK Krishna Menon was the defence minister of India at that time.That hovercraft was named as Nandi,after the impressive white bull who acts as Shiva's vehicle.Defence minister was so convinced with the project.But,by the new govt. not many people shared his dream.It was one of his set backs.
In this period of confusion and uncertainty,memories from his childhood came back to him.Pakshi Lakshmana Sastry used to say."seek the truth,and the truth shall set you free".Accordingly to Bible"Ask & you shall receive".
One day Dr.Mediratte=a,Drector of ADE,called Kalam and asked him to give a talk on his hovercraft to an important visitor.Kalam had explained every thing and took a ten minute ride in that hover craft.That man was Prof.MGK Menon,Director of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research(TIFR).After a week,he received a call from the Indian Committee for Space Research(INCOSPAR),to attend an interview for the post of rocket Engineer.That was the first encounter of Kalam with the father of Indian Space Research,Prof.Vikram Saravhai,Kalam had started his work at INCOSPAR,with familiarization course at the TIFR computer center.The atmosphere is entirely different from DTD & P.In 1962,INCOSPAR wanted to set up it's Equatorial Rocket Launching station at Thumba,near Trivandrum in Kerla.St.Mary Magdalene Church housed the first office of the Thumba Space Center.Kalam was asked to attend a 6 months training programme on sounding rocket launching techniques at the NASA work center in the USA.Kalam went to Rameswaram.Jallaluddin and Samsuddin gave him send off at Bombay airport.That was his first flight to a mega polis like New York.
He joined work at NASA's research center in Virginia Kalam had seen a painting at the reception.He examined clearly and came to a conclusion that it was the army of Tipusultan fighting the British East India's company towards the end of the 18th century India's first rocket launch took place on 21 November 1963.It was a sounding rocket programme.With the death of Tipu Sultan Indian rocketry came to a standstill.Reverse Engineering was revised again after 150 years.In that time foreigners made a lot of research on rocketry.Konstanfin Tsiolkovsky in Russia(1903),Robert Goddard in USA(1914)and Hermann Oberth in Germany(1923) gave rocketry new dimensions.
Prof.Vikram Sarabhai took on the challenge of space research.Vision of Sarabhai Sri Jawaharlal Nehru "If India was to play a meaningful role in the community of nations,she must be second to none in the applications of advanced technologies".
He applied for both and called for interviews at both places almost simultaneously.That was the first encounter of kalam with the vastness of our country.In the interviews the emphasis was mainly on personalities,physical fitness and the ability to speak well.Kalam was excited but nervous,determined but anxious,confident but tense.He was not selected in IAF.In order to overcome his disappointment he went to Rushikesh.He went to the Sivananda Ashram ther.He met Swamy Sivananda,who seemed him to be the image of Buddha.
He comforted Kalam with his words-"Accept your destiny and go ahead with your life.What you are destined to becomes not revealed as ye,but it is predetermined.Forget this failure.Think of it as a step that will lead you to your predestined path".Then he returned to Delhi and enquired at DTP & P about the outcome of his interview.In response he was handled his appointment letter.He joined as a Senior Scientific Assistant in a basic salary of Rs.250 per month.
In 1958 he was posted at the technical center (Civil Aviation).Then he was sent to Air Craft and Armament Testing Unit(A & ATU) at Kanpur to gain actual experience and practice in aircraft maintenance.IT was his first exposure to an Industrial area.The environment was completely different from his native town.Three years later.Aeronautical Development Establishment(ADE) was born in Banglore.He was posted to the new establishment.A project leader was formed to design and develop an indigenous hover craft prototype,a Ground Equipment
Mechanism(GEM).No one is veteran.they had to refer books and consult different persons knowledgeable is that area,but could find none.With the limited information and resources available,they decided to go ahead.At last produce a wingless,light swift machine opened the windows of his mind.VK Krishna Menon was the defence minister of India at that time.That hovercraft was named as Nandi,after the impressive white bull who acts as Shiva's vehicle.Defence minister was so convinced with the project.But,by the new govt. not many people shared his dream.It was one of his set backs.
The twin-engine indigenous hovercraft prototype Nandi developed at ADE, Banglore.As inventor and pilot,I took my rightful place at the controls. |
In this period of confusion and uncertainty,memories from his childhood came back to him.Pakshi Lakshmana Sastry used to say."seek the truth,and the truth shall set you free".Accordingly to Bible"Ask & you shall receive".
One day Dr.Mediratte=a,Drector of ADE,called Kalam and asked him to give a talk on his hovercraft to an important visitor.Kalam had explained every thing and took a ten minute ride in that hover craft.That man was Prof.MGK Menon,Director of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research(TIFR).After a week,he received a call from the Indian Committee for Space Research(INCOSPAR),to attend an interview for the post of rocket Engineer.That was the first encounter of Kalam with the father of Indian Space Research,Prof.Vikram Saravhai,Kalam had started his work at INCOSPAR,with familiarization course at the TIFR computer center.The atmosphere is entirely different from DTD & P.In 1962,INCOSPAR wanted to set up it's Equatorial Rocket Launching station at Thumba,near Trivandrum in Kerla.St.Mary Magdalene Church housed the first office of the Thumba Space Center.Kalam was asked to attend a 6 months training programme on sounding rocket launching techniques at the NASA work center in the USA.Kalam went to Rameswaram.Jallaluddin and Samsuddin gave him send off at Bombay airport.That was his first flight to a mega polis like New York.
He joined work at NASA's research center in Virginia Kalam had seen a painting at the reception.He examined clearly and came to a conclusion that it was the army of Tipusultan fighting the British East India's company towards the end of the 18th century India's first rocket launch took place on 21 November 1963.It was a sounding rocket programme.With the death of Tipu Sultan Indian rocketry came to a standstill.Reverse Engineering was revised again after 150 years.In that time foreigners made a lot of research on rocketry.Konstanfin Tsiolkovsky in Russia(1903),Robert Goddard in USA(1914)and Hermann Oberth in Germany(1923) gave rocketry new dimensions.
Prof.Vikram Sarabhai took on the challenge of space research.Vision of Sarabhai Sri Jawaharlal Nehru "If India was to play a meaningful role in the community of nations,she must be second to none in the applications of advanced technologies".
