WINGS OF FIRE

 

Online reading of wings of fire.

WINGS OF FIRE

Dr. A P J ABDUL KALAM

Type of book- Autobiography, Inspirational Fiction. 

A good book is a garden, an orchard, a storehouse, a counselor,” he wrote.

The book wings of fire is the autobiography of Apj Abdul kalam. this is one of the best book. Big inspiration for students.It teaches us how can we achieve success and most important how to manage failure this is one of the best book for student .

Wings of Fire” is an account of a young boy who tries to achieve his dreams beating all odds. The story emphasizes the importance of family, relatives and friends in helping achieve each other's goals and turning dreams to reality.

The book is a memoir which has been written very honestly by Kalam. He describes his journey — from his childhood to becoming the missile man of India — as it happened. One can feel the emotions, as he takes you through the highs and lows of his story. Such a pure book, could only be written by a man with a pure heart.

Born in a middle-class Tamil family, raised by loving parents, Kalam takes you through his peaceful childhood days in the holy town of Rameshwaram. His father was a very religious and spiritual person, and so was the atmosphere of Rameshwaram. These qualities are imbibed in Kalam and are evident on almost every page of this book. But his love for the pursuit of science, is least affected, if not strengthened by his love for spirituality.

Kalam then takes you through his school and college life, the different teachers and Professors who shaped him. Followed by his first job interviews and job experiences. He describes each of his projects in great details. And as he describes them, the humility in his nature is reflected. He not only remembers which team-mates were working on which parts of the projects, but also their personal difficulties and achievements. More often than not you will find him crediting all the success to his team members and his mentors.

This book is not only about the achievements of his projects — Nandi, SLV, Prithvi, Agni, etc., but also about the failures in the same. He does not sugarcoat his failures, and describes his raw emotions as he felt them. For Kalam his work was larger than life. It can be seen from the poem which he wrote after the successful launch of Agni.

What I found most inspiring in the Wings of Fire is that President Kalam used to write his own thank you cards.

Towards the end of the book Kalam gives a great message to the youth. Given the scene of lazy bureaucracy in India, it is easy for one to lose all hopes and blame it all on the system. But Kalam leads us with an example in this case.

“I hope it [his journey] will help at least a few young people stand up to the authoritarianism in our society. A characteristic feature of this social authoritarianism is its insidious ability to addict people to the endless pursuit of external rewards, wealth, prestige, position, promotion, approval of one’s lifestyle by others, ceremonial honours, and status symbols of all kinds.
To successfully pursue these goals, they have to learn elaborate rules of etiquette and familiarize themselves with customs, traditions, protocols and so on. The youth of today must unlearn this self-defeating way of life. The culture of working only for material possessions and rewards must be discarded.”

I would like to end this review with a beautiful poem written by Kalam,

I am a well in this great land
Looking at its millions of boys and girls
To draw from me
The inexhaustible divinity
And spread His grace everywhere
As does the water drawn from a well.

The book has something to offer for everyone. Hope you will like reading it.