If Satish Dhawan was not there Kalam would never have become Kalam! he/she took care of himself when he/she was broken by failure

New Delhi : APJ Abdul Kalam. India’s ‘Missile Man’. Former President. Great scientist. But Kalam would not have become APJ Abdul Kalam if Satish Dhawan had not been there. This star of the scientific world would not have emerged like a comet if Dhawan had not supported him/her in the most difficult times. The same Dhawan who is counted among the great space scientists of India. The same one who took charge of ISRO after the sudden death of Vikram Sarabhai, the father of Indian space science. Just a day before was the birth anniversary of that great scientist. We are not saying without reason that Dhawan had a big hand in grooming Kalam. While being the President, he/she himself used to discuss Dhawan’s farsighted thinking and his/her leadership skills on many occasions. The English website India Today has told in one of its reports how Dhawan took the responsibility of young Kalam’s failure on himself and gave him/her the credit when he/she succeeded.

Who is a real leader? A real leader is one who never lets the team lose morale. he/she encourages them. Instead of blaming someone else for failure, he/she takes the credit of success on himself and gives the credit of success to the team. To the team members. To the juniors. To the subordinates. Shows faith in the team even after failure. Motivates them and gives them a chance to succeed. Dhawan was a real leader in the truest sense.

The incident is from the year 1979. When ISRO faced a major failure during a mission, its chief Satish Dhawan saved the young scientist APJ Abdul Kalam from media criticism. Dhawan not only took the responsibility of the failure on himself, but also gave Kalam a chance to achieve success again.

It so happened that one of ISRO’s satellite launch missions failed miserably. Instead of getting established in its orbit in space, the satellite fell into the Bay of Bengal. That mission was led by none other than APJ Abdul Kalam. he/she was a young man full of enthusiasm then. At the beginning of the mission, some scientists had expressed doubts over the preparations, but Kalam decided to go ahead with the mission. When the mission failed, Kalam was devastated.

Kalam was scared of failure. How would he/she face the world? How would he/she face the sharp questions of the media? In that difficult time, the then ISRO chief Satish Dhawan helped him/her recover. he/she himself went in front of the media. he/she took the responsibility of failure on himself. Despite the failure, he/she expressed faith in the team. he/she encouraged them that they will definitely succeed.

Despite the failure of the mission, Dhawan entrusted Kalam with the responsibility of the next mission as well. This time the satellite launch was successful. Under the leadership of young Kalam, the team of ISRO scientists washed away the stain of the previous failure. Dhawan once again showed what the quality of a real leader is. he/she did not announce the success of the mission himself but got Kalam to do it.

APJ Abdul Kalam often used to mention this incident in later days and especially during his/her tenure as President. Praising Dhawan’s leadership, he/she often used to say, ‘When there was failure, the leader took responsibility for it. And when there was success, he/she gave credit to his/her team.’

Satish Dhawan was born on 25 September 1920 in Srinagar in the house of a judge. However, his/her early education took place in Lahore. In 1971, the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi chose Dhawan for the post of ISRO chief after the sudden death of Vikram Sarabhai. Under his/her leadership, ISRO carried forward the tradition of Sarabhai and wrote a new chapter of success.