It is an autobiography of a rocket scientist, a
visionary, the missile man and 11th president of India (2002-07) Dr.
A.P.J. Abdul Kalam also known as people’s president. “Wings of fire” is
one such autobiography of a person who had the courage to dream big and the
passion to keep striving till they are achieved. The book gives best
insight about the life of a small town boy who dreamt to make India strong and
prosperous – a DEVELOPED Nation. The autobiography was 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. Outside of the major Indian languages, `Wings of Fire' was translated
in Chinese, titled `Huo Yi,' by Ji Peng, and also in French.
Beginning with: “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.” The orientation is
covered within the first 3 chapters covering 32 years of Kalam’s life from his
birth till his journey to NASA. The next 17 years of his life are covered under
the section creation with another 7 chapters. The next section of the book is Propitiation covers the period of 1981 to 1991, and
contains five chapters. It 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 book is a journey of dreams, hopes, successes and failures.
The life of this great personality was none different than any normal person,
the only thing different was how he perceived the world around him and how he’s
willingness to go that extra mile to achieve his dreams, how he’s willingness
to sacrifice for common good and how he never forgot who he really is. This
book gives confidence to Indians in general that ‘we can do and we can do from
India’. It is a story of courage, inspiration, leadership and motivation. The
book tells us how important it is to value the people around us in order to
grow as a person. The book talks about millions of people who have contributed
to the life of Kalam, which tells us that a great personality is just not one
person but a collective effort of many.
One
of the many quotes and phrases written in the book, one especially interests me
–
“My
worthiness is all my doubt – His merit – all my fear – Contrasting
which my quality Does however – appear.”
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