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On a dream pilgrimage
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A friend and associate of President-elect, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, <145,4>Arun Tiwari was involved with the missile programme and is now applying the same technology to provide quality medicare. Yet, the real high was co-authoring Kalam's book, he tells<145,4>T. Lalith Singh.
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FORTYSEVEN-YEAR-old Arun Tiwari is credited with designing the country's first titanium bottle used to power missiles.
In the Integrated Guided Missile Development programme, he was in the team managing projects for `Trishul' and `Akash'. "We worked for a dream and vision given to us by Kalam,'' he says.
Having worked with the Bharat Ratna closely for years, Tiwari knows Kalam, whom he calls as his guru intimately.
He was all ears when the man destined to become the President talked about his hopes for the nation. "Writing Wings of Fire with him was like a pilgrimage,'' he gushes.
They started writing the book in 1991 when "Kalam began talking of his dreams to me on Sundays and holidays. There were many breaks but we always picked the threads and continued,'' he reminiscences. An experience that changed him.
``It brought about a metamorphosis in my views, my dreams and aspirations. Listening to his story and later co-writing it, I became a part of him,'' he says.
Tiwari quit the missile labs owing to ill health after a successful stint. ``But something kept me associated with the man who had so many dreams for the nation,'' he says. He published two books - `Supervisions' and `Broken Bones Do Not Kill, Broken Hopes Do' -- and on perusing them, Kalam told him: "One day you will write a bestseller.''
Those were prophetic words because the bestseller turned out be his own biography. Kalam's influence on Tiwari was quite strong and when he told him to "believe that you deserve to live in a developed country,'' it was enough to propel the reticent scientist to think of utilising missile technology spin-offs for medical applications.
He became a part of noted cardiologist, B. Somaraju's CARE Foundation team. Despite doubts expressed by many, three years of diligence yielded the country's first coronary stent -- The
Kalam-Raju stent. "How can a stent be made in a country where orthopaedic bolts and nuts are not made, many asked, but our team at Cardiovascular Technology Institute did prove the sceptics wrong,'' Tiwari says.
More success came their way as his team developed a PC-based ECG machine, digital stethoscope and country's first satellite-based telemedicine system, among others. Actively networking science laboratories with industry and hospitals, Tiwari has not left his writing behind as he had just released `Managing Sadness' (Ocean Books).
If he is not exercising those grey cells over science and technology, Tiwari has a liking for reading Buddhist philosophy. Films and television?
"No. I don't watch them. I am not into things that enhance escapism,'' laughs the visiting professor at National Centre for Cardiology and Internal Medicine, Kyrgyz Republic.
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Life
Bangalore
Chennai
Coimbatore
Delhi
Hyderabad
Kochi
Thiruvananthapuram
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