Book Review : Wings of Fire: An Autobiography of APJ Abdul Kalam

Abdul Kalam , the man with many names. He is most trusted man in India according to survey , He is also known as missile man of India , He is at times addressed as people's president. The simple man who is symbol of India which its founder dreamt of.

The man who would be cherished long after he is gone , the man whom India loves.

His autobiography 'The wings of fire' is an inspiring read which takes you to journey of this great man's life. It feels one with pride , with joy , with hope , with dream . His struggles , his success , his failures , his triumph and most importantly his keep going attitude making journey towards feets not achieved before.

His book covers his journey from his childhood to his padmabhushan. The book does not cover his presidency days and was published before he became president of India. The beginig chapter of book is full of Indianess . Abdul Kalam stayed in rameshvaram which is famous for its shiv temple. The famous temple was minutes journey from abdul kalam's home and was muslim dominated area. Another example of Indianess.

Abdul Kalam use to sell newspapers to help his brother , was good friend of priest of temple and his father was respectable man whom people use to turn for advise. Abdul Kalam writes about his schooling , his future brother in law's influence on him , his teachers in initial chapters.He also writes about his financial challenge during his college era and how his sister bails him out.

The further chapters are synonyms of young independent India exploring new avenues and trying to excel in it. Vikram sarabhai's immense contribution is establishment of space research center and opening up new feets for coming scientist generation to trimph , abdul kalam's efforts in association with other scientist would make ordinary Indian understand the zeal , the effort of human soul in making India , a well respected country in space science.

Legendary Vikram sarabhai needs special mention out here. He is mentor of abdul kalam and abdul kalam writes about him is many part of book. The management skills of vikram sarabhai , his team building skills , his dream and his belief of Indian scientist made space science of India where it is today.

What did grab my attention was zeal of scientist and their passion for their work. One meeting of abdul kalam with vikram sarabhai was scheduled at 3 a.m.!!!!!!!!!. Just imagine that , meeting in morning 3'o clock. Another incident narrated by abdul kalam is when he works overnight with his colleague for presentation to defense minister and he forgets that he has his niece getting married the other day!!!!!!!!. Fortunately defense minister makes sure that he attends the wedding.

ISRO , prithvi , agni , nag , trishul are things which every Indian is proud of. Every Indian was again feel with sense of pride when India made to moon but what did it take to make all this possible?. What did it take to have that vision , create team , have self belief and make it possible?. This book is all about that.

Considering that book comes from scientist , this book does have few scientific narration. SLV , Geo satellite , composite material , mechanical engineering and such things. Well now journey of scientist would have technicalities too . It is understandable. But abdul kalam has tried keep it as simple as possible and core of this book is human will and human victory over disappointments ,failures and fears.

This book is also about great Indian dream. Dream which our founding fathers had and dream which abdul kalam made reality. Dream that you may be Hindu or Muslim , rich or poor you can become what you dreamt of . Not many people do believe in that. In country which is divided by religion , caste , region . In country which has corrupted system where money and contact works , abdul kalam is perfect example of great Indian dream. This book is about Indianess , about collective goals , about collective triumphs and about taking pride in being Indian.