As a city where he had spent a significant period of time as a scientist, Thiruvananthapuram held a special attachment for A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. He was one of the few scientists who started working with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) during the sixties when a rocket launch pad was set up on the Thumba beach here.
At a function held at VSSC on November 21, 2003 to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the launching of the first rocket from India, Mr. Kalam, then President of the country, had recalled his early days at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC).
Addressing a select audience comprising the pioneers of the ISRO family, he described his profile in those days as a ‘payload fellow.’ Forty years, he said, had not dimmed his memory of November 21, 1963.
‘Beautiful experience’
He recalled that he was in the Wallops Island facility of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the U.S., when he received a message from India on November 19 asking him to go to Prof. Jacques Blamont’s laboratory (in the U.S.) and collect a sodium vapour payload with a mechanical timer and immediately reach Thumba. The launch was ‘a big, beautiful experience’ for Mr. Kalam because India could work with three other nations. He found the sodium vapour trail in the sky ‘a remarkable sight’
But Mr. Kalam’s lasting memories of Thiruvananthapuram were not only about his professional life. During his first visit to the city after becoming President, he called on George, a cobbler who he used to chat with on his way to his lodge Indra Bhavan at Mele Thampanoor.
Among the visitors he received at the Raj Bhavan was Parameswaran Nair, owner of the Guruvayurappan Hotel where he used to have dinner.
Former ISRO chairman G. Madhavan Nair who considers Mr. Kalam as his mentor, recalls his last meeting with the man who helped shape his career.
“During a stroll in the lawns of the Raj Bhavan here, APJ told me how India’s remarkable achievements in space science and other technologies would mean nothing if these were not put to use for the benefit of the poor in this country. That was APJ. His was a unique personality. He could find simple solutions to complex problems.”
Mr. Nair recalled that it was he who had suggested that the Indian flag be deposited on the moon as part of the Chandrayaan mission.
