Failure and A Hundred Thousand Trees

There are very few moments in someone's life when something so big is happening that the whole nation is glued to their television to watch that event. It is 22nd May 1989 and the whole nation is hooked to their radios tuned to ALL INDIA RADIO channel as at that time, very few households used to own a television set.

Although India was a developing nation, it managed to launch several missiles into the space with help of its scientists. But still, missile technology was very prominent, and very few countries had that technology. All eyes around the world used to be on India as, after just 40 years of independence, India was becoming self-reliant in terms of space and missile technology. It was 20th April 1989 and full home-grown ballistic missile Agni-I was about to launch under the leadership of Missile Man of India Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kalam. But some error happened and the missile was not launched.

This failure was widely criticized and made fun of by Indian media and satirists. The whole team was devastated but spirits were high and a new date was decided to launch the missile, 22nd May 1985.

A day before the launch, it was an overwhelming feeling for Dr. Kalam. He was having a walk with then defense minister of India, KC Pant who had come especially for the launch of the Agni missile. Mr. Pant asked Dr. Kalam that in what way does he want to celebrate if the missile is successfully launched. Dr. Kalam was a scientist who had a personality and character of a monk. He had everything and wanted nothing. What was one thing that will make him happier? "We need to plant 1,00,000 saplings". That was his answer. It was a way to get blessings of mother earth for Agni which in English means Fire.

As the historic day came, the Agni missile was launched flawlessly as if mother earth herself bestowed her blessings on the whole team after their hard work of more than five years.

One question that Dr. Kalam used to ask himself a lot was "What can I give?" He gave so many learnings from his life to this society. To know that how the son of a fisherman went on to become Bharat Ratna, President of India, read Wings of Fire, an autobiography by Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam.