Wings of Fire
Encyclopedia
Wings of Fire: An Autobiography of APJ Abdul Kalam (1999) is an autobiography
of A P J Abdul Kalam, former President of India
. It was written by Dr. Kalam and Arun Tiwari.
Orientation, the first section of Wings of Fire, spread into first three chapters, covers 32 years of Kalam’s life, from his birth in a middle class Tamil people,Tamil family in the island town of Rameshwaram, his early schooling at Schwartz High School, Ramanathapuram, his undergraduate education at St. Joseph College, Trichy, completion of a degree course in aeronautic engineering from Madras Institute of Technology, and ends with him moving to the United States for a six month training program at NASA.
The period covered in the section 'Creation' also brought Kalam national recognition. A pleasant surprise came in the form of conferment of Padma Bhushan on the Republic Day,1981.
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 the life, Kalam was responsible for the development of the five missiles – Prithvi, Trishul, Akash, Nag and the most awaited one Agni. The launch of Agni clearly showed that a developing country could also achieve a stage where she had the option of preventing the wars involving her.
Autobiography
An autobiography is a book about the life of a person, written by that person.-Origin of the term:...
of A P J Abdul Kalam, former President of India
President of India
The President of India is the head of state and first citizen of India, as well as the Supreme Commander of the Indian Armed Forces. President of India is also the formal head of all the three branches of Indian Democracy - Legislature, Executive and Judiciary...
. It was written by Dr. Kalam and Arun Tiwari.
Translations
The autobiography first published in English, has so far been translated and published in 13 languages including Hindi, Gujarati, kannada Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Oriya, Marathi apart from Braille. A Chinese edition of `Wings of Fire', titled `Huo Yi' and translated by Ji Peng is also present. It translated in French also.Structure
Wings of Fire unfolds the story of A P J Abdul Kalam from his childhood in the following eight sections:- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Orientation
- Creation
- Propitiation
- Contemplation
Orientation
The section Orientation opens with a quote from the Atharva Veda- This Earth is His, to Him belong those vast and boundless skies;
- Both seas within Him rest, and yet in that small pool He lies.
Orientation, the first section of Wings of Fire, spread into first three chapters, covers 32 years of Kalam’s life, from his birth in a middle class Tamil people,Tamil family in the island town of Rameshwaram, his early schooling at Schwartz High School, Ramanathapuram, his undergraduate education at St. Joseph College, Trichy, completion of a degree course in aeronautic engineering from Madras Institute of Technology, and ends with him moving to the United States for a six month training program at NASA.
Creation
Section 'Creation' traverses seven chapters, from chapters four to chapter ten; and covers Kalam's life and work for 17 years, from the year 1963 until 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 USA, including the Wallops Flight Facility at Wallops Island in 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 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.more
His association with Thumba and 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 receive an honoured 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 conferment of Padma Bhushan on the Republic Day,1981.
Propitiation
Section Propitiation covers the period 1981 to 1991, and contains five chapters, from chapter 10 to chapter 14.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 the life, Kalam was responsible for the development of the five missiles – Prithvi, Trishul, Akash, Nag and the most awaited one Agni. The launch of Agni clearly showed that a developing country could also achieve a stage where she had the option of preventing the wars involving her.
Pictures
The book has 24 plates with photographs associated with the life and work of Kalam:- Ramnathpuram, from where Kalam had completed his high schooling.
- Plate 8 shows his teachers at Schwartz High School.
- Plate 9 shows Nandi, an indigenous hovercraft prototype.
- Plate 10 shows the picture of a Church in ThumbaThumbaThumba is a suburb of Thiruvananthapuram city, capital of Kerala, India.Thumba became well-known to the out-siders after the establishment of Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station , which was the first of that kind in India...
, a place which was donated by the local Christian community to the India’s Space Research Centre. - Plate 11 shows him with Prof. Vikram SarabhaiVikram SarabhaiVikram Ambalal Sarabhai was an Indian physicist. He is considered to be the father of the Indian space program; legendary Homi Bhabha’s successor as chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission; and was as at home in the world of the arts as in his favourite laboratory. His interests were vast and...
. - Plate 12 shows an SLV-3 review meeting.
- Plate 13 shows presentation of members of SLV-3 team.
- Plate 14 is the first plate with a colour photograph and shows Professor Brahm Prakash inspecting SLV-3 in its final stage on integration, and plate 16 shows a colour photograph of SLV-3 on the launch pad.
- Plate 15 shows him with Prof. Satish DhawanSatish DhawanSatish Dhawan was an Indian rocket scientist and a pioneer aerospace engineer who was born in Srinagar, India and educated in India and the United States...
and the then Prime Minister Indira GandhiIndira GandhiIndira Priyadarshini Gandhara was an Indian politician who served as the third Prime Minister of India for three consecutive terms and a fourth term . She was assassinated by Sikh extremists...
. - Plate 16 shows SLV-3 launch.
- Plate 17 shows him receiving Padma Bhushan.
- Plates 18 shows successful launch of Prithvi, now a part of India’s surface-to-surface weapons system.
- Plate 19 shows Kalam standing by the side of Agni, standing on its launch pad.
- Plate 20 shows a cartoon by renowned cartoonist R.K. Laxman.
- Plate 21 shows another cartoon on the failure of Agni Missile.
- Plate 22 shows him after successful launch of Agni Missile.
- Plate 23 shows Kalam receiving the Bharat RatnaBharat RatnaBharat Ratna is the Republic of India's highest civilian award, awarded for the highest degrees of national service. This service includes artistic, literary, and scientific achievements, as well as "recognition of public service of the highest order." Unlike knights, holders of the Bharat Ratna...
from the PresidentPresident of IndiaThe President of India is the head of state and first citizen of India, as well as the Supreme Commander of the Indian Armed Forces. President of India is also the formal head of all the three branches of Indian Democracy - Legislature, Executive and Judiciary...
, K. R. NarayananK. R. NarayananKocheril Raman Narayanan , also known as K. R. Narayanan, was the tenth President of India. He was the first Dalit, and the first Malayali, to have been President....
. - Plate 24 shows him with the 3 service chiefs.