An interview with Dr. Kota Harinarayana

Dr. Kota Harinarayana has worked with organizations like HAL and DRDO and has been the driving force behind developing India’s light combat aircraft Tejas. It was his discipline, aptitude for systems design and ability to bring together and manage so many different organizations that helped spur the Tejas program. He has served as Chief Designer at HAL Nasik division, as Director ADE, Bangalore, and as the LCA Programme Director at ADA in a career spanning several decades until he retired in 2002. He was also awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India in the same year. Here we talk to this legend to get a first-hand account of the man who has seen the Tejas take flight from the
drawing board into the skies.

- he has been always a great inspiration for me 

What was your childhood like?
I come from a town in Orissa called Behrampur. It’s a small place where people are close to each other. I come from a generation where children didn’t go to a school too early. I started going to school only at the age of seven. Now days, children start as early as three. When I turned seven, my parents were getting worried that this fellow is not going to school. So there was a teacher who used to come home and take us physically to the school. But once I started attending school, I picked up fast. Maybe if you’re a little older in school, you pick up faster. I joined a school called City High School. The school had a provision for studying both Telugu and Oriya. And we were studying Hindi as an additional subject.
I come from a lower middle class family. I was supposed to be a reasonably good student in school. I usually came first or second in the class. For my parents, as long as I was going to school and not failing, they were happy. I got a seat in both engineering and medicine after school. I somehow felt that engineering was better because I liked mathematics and I wasn’t sure if I could remember all the names in anatomy or physiology. So, I decided to do engineering. I applied to a college in Orissa and to Benares Hindu University (BHU). My father felt that perhaps by going to Benaras, my exposure and outlook would be better and he sent me to BHU. I must admire that because he wasn’t a highly literate man. He must have studied up to sixth or seventh standard. But he was a freedom fighter and he was very passionate about Indian value systems. He thought that BHU which was established by Madan Mohan Malviya was a university with values. He thought by going there, I could pick up some good virtues.

Did you have a fascination for flying in your childhood days?
My fascination for aviation began in 1965 when I passed out from BHU and that was the year we had a war. It was the first time that India used aircraft in a war. There was a beautiful aircraft called Gnat. It was a small aircraft. And Gnat did extremely well in dog fights with F-86 ‘Sabre’ aircrafts which were much bigger in size. I found that very fascinating. I always believed that the agility and the maneuverability which is a very important quality for a fighter aircraft could be achieved when you have a small aircraft. And Gnat was very small. I think the Gnat was a wonder! Even today when I think about aircraft design, my first thought goes to Gnat. What the Gnat designers did was to create a single component that could do multiple jobs. The landing gear door also acted like an air brake. When I see how cleverly the whole thing was done, I get inspired.
You could say that the interest in aviation started in fact only after the 1965 war. Until then, we only knew and had read little about aircraft. I felt that it’s an area that I must study. And fortunately for me, there was an advertisement for the Institute of Science talking about a Post Graduation in aeronautics. So I applied and in those days they had a different policy and they selected me without an interview. If they had called for an interview, possibly I would not have gone.

You have studied at prestigious institutes like BHU, IISc and IIT Bombay. Would you like to talk about some experiences that stand out during your education?
As far as BHU is concerned, while I loved the university, the environment and the heritage; frankly I didn’t find the education style very good but IISc was totally different. Here was a total research environment and the studies were tough. I had a job offer from Bhilai Steel plant and I almost left my course to take it up but somehow I told myself that I should not leave IISc because I liked the subjects. Six months after I joined, I got attuned to the place; to the research environment; to understanding what is the latest that is happening anywhere in the world and attuned to a way of teaching which was not routine and mundane. I had a project called ‘Stability and control of an aircraft’. There was a professor called Seetaram Murty. He instilled a lot of interest in the subject and while doing the project, I developed a greater feel for the subject. A lot of my class mates were going to USA but I decided to stay back and join HAL. In fact, I joined HAL through campus recruitment.
Studying in IISc changed my outlook towards life. Let me narrate an instance – After I completed my studies at IISc, I joined the flight test group of HAL. Within two-three days of joining, my boss called me and said, ‘Look, we have a problem in the aircraft. The drag levels are very high. We introduced a modification called reheat system. Can you study and tell us whether the drag levels are high or if there is a thrust problem.’ The training at IISc being what it is, we thought we could solve any problem. Sometimes I think it was just bravado, but that was the kind of feeling. He asked me if I could look into it and I said, ‘No problem sir. I can do this job.’ Then he asked me how much time I needed. Mentally I calculated that I could finish in two days but I thought let me take a factor of safety and said I will take one week. He said, ‘Oh! You can do it in one week. Very good.’ So I came back and sat in my chair and my immediate boss asked me, ‘Kota, What did the big boss tell you.’ I told him about the problem he had indicated and I that I had told him I could do it one week. Then I thought maybe my immediate boss thinks that’s too long so I said, ‘But I can actually finish it in two days.’ He told me with a smile, ‘Very nice. We have been struggling to solve this problem for the last four years.’ What IISc had done was that it had given us a tremendous amount of confidence to solve problems. I thought it was an extraordinary change for a person who was not even sure of how he could attend an interview to a person who could now say that ‘These are not major issues. We can solve it’.

While serving as the Chief Resident Engineer(CRE) at HAL Nasik, your work on the life determination of MiG components helped spearhead improvements in MiG aircraft. How did this experience help you with the Tejas program?
HAL Nasik had a factory for manufacturing MiG aircraft and I came with a fresh mind. I worked there for a couple of years and then I decided to do a PhD because my interest in aircraft had increased while working on MiG aircraft. I think its one of the finest aircraft designs ever made by Russians. When I first saw the MiG aircraft, I thought that a lot of improvements could be done. It wasn’t my job to do any development because I was the man responsible for the safety and design standards of the aircraft. But I thought we might as well see what we could do in terms of improvement. There are two areas where I started doing work. One was how to increase the indigenous content of the aircraft. A lot of the parts of the aircraft were still being imported from Russia. I felt that we were not taking the benefit of the Indian industry. So we did a major exercise about what could be indigenized and finally the Government gave us about 150 crores. In those days that was big money. We launched and I can tell you almost from about 30-40% of indigenous content was pushed up to 80% over that period of time. Metallic materials, Composite materials, Components, Standard parts and a lot of things we were able to do with the industry and laboratories around Nasik, Pune and some in Banglore. What I found was that the talent and the skill-base that was available in our small-scale industries in India are extra-ordinary.
And the second thing I was trying to look into was how to improve the aircraft – how to improve its performance, how to reduce its weight, how to improve other parameters, etc. We had an outstanding pilot called Wing Commander Ashoka. I think, perhaps, he is the finest test pilot India has ever produced. Not only an extra-ordinary pilot but he also had extra-ordinary analytical thinking skills. A test pilot should not only be good in flying but he should be able to analyze every aspect of the aircraft. When Ashoka used to land, he used to tell us about all the snags and what his appreciation was. And I always found that the way he had analyzed was the right way to look at it. He and I had many discussions together and we suggested some improvements in aerodynamics, structure, general systems and avionics. We approached the Managing Director, Group Captain Chenna Keshu who was a very positive person and he said that it was a pretty good idea and suggested a two day seminar in Nasik. In the history of Nasik, that was the first time they were having a seminar on improving the MiG aircraft. Actually the whole thing was supposed to be presented by the Chief Designer. By sheer chance, the Chief Designer fell ill and the General Manager asked me to present it. It was very well accepted by Air Force and the scientific community.
Meanwhile I was also doing my PhD. I went to IIT Bombay, registered myself and stayed there. At that point, I thought to myself that I had already done some eight to nine years of work and I didn’t want to do it in any obtuse subject. I told myself that my interest is in fighter aircraft and I had always felt that the MiG aircraft was not designed for India. It was designed for Russia’s cold conditions. If you sit inside the cockpit of a MiG 21, it is like a hot furnace. We need cooling whereas they had a heater inside the cockpit because they were operating in Siberia where it is always cold. Russia had two climates cold and colder whereas we have hot and hotter. These were the kinds of things that we wanted to change. We also wanted to change the aerodynamics. We developed a concept called Vortex plate. We didn’t know at that time that we were the first in the world to develop something like this. NASA developed a similar concept only six years later. Even though we were in a remote place like Nasik but because of our closeness to IIT Bombay, we had a healthy way of working.
We didn’t have any flight test facility. So, we did about a dozen flights. Then the aircraft was shifted to ASTE here and they did about 60-70 flights. Air Marshal Rajkumar who worked with LCA, in those days was with ASTE. He did most of the evaluation of the aircraft and he gave a pretty good report about the improvements that we had done – some were good and some were not so good. But overall they felt that some improvements could be incorporated.
While trying to indigenize the production of parts, we came across a problem. We couldn’t get push buttons for the control sticks from the Russians because their supply chain was very poor. I went to an automobile switch manufacturer in Nasik. His name was Bachubhai Patel. We asked him to make the push button for us. He replied that he knew how to make buttons for cars but not for aircrafts. We convinced him to try. We told him that we wanted the push buttons in three months. After about two and half months, he gave me a call. He asked me to come over and have a look at it. He had made a very simple and innovative test facility. He had made the push button and he tested it for ten million cycles. He said, ‘I have tested it. It is working quite well. Now you have a look at it.’ He had made about half a dozen buttons. I gave two buttons to my colleagues to run tests on them in the laboratory and to the design team to study the dimensions. I was amazed at Bachubhai Patel’s choice of materials and design. He got it right in the first time. He had designed it without a single failure. What people had struggled for three years and had been running after the Russians for, this old man who was already sixty five in those days, did it. When we started exploring we were even able to find rubber rings, split pins, metallic materials and a variety of things within Indian industries. We wanted some composite material work done that nobody had done in this country and very few people in the world had done. I talked to a professor in IIT Bombay and said these are the components and asked him to try working on it. He made a very important component called the Air brake. It was then that I realized the amazing strength of an academic institution. Working on MiG development and indigenization immensely helped me when I came to the LCA project. If I hadn’t worked all those years in Nasik, I don’t think I would have had the knowledge or the confidence to tackle a new fighter project.

Your job at ADA as the Program Director saw you managing a number of people from different fields. Can you tell us about the challenges you faced in Techno management and how you overcame them?

The problem was that in those days, India didn’t have any developmental experience of fighter for almost two decades. The previous program had been HF24 which was developed by a team headed by Kurt Tank, who was a German designer. He brought a design team of about 15 with him. The HF24 flew in 1961. By 1985, two and a half decades had been over and there had been no new project. And by then, people who had worked on the project had retired. In a field like aviation, you have to continuously develop, continuously evolve new technologies, new processes and new designs. And our people had not been doing anything for almost two and a half decades. So the challenge was that we didn’t have any technology, we didn’t have enough people who had experience in making an aircraft and unfortunately the infrastructure was also very poor. Whatever infrastructure had been there was built during HF24 days and was in poor shape.

We had DRDO labs, National Aerospace laboratory, Air Force on one side and HAL on the other side. I didn’t see much of a rapport among them. There was no understanding between the people. Each was pulling in his own direction. So the challenge was not only in dealing with people from 40 disciplines but people from different organizations who were not seeing eye to eye, who did not have an understanding about what each other’s responsibility was. Our challenge was how to build infrastructure, how to update the knowledge base of the people, how to bring in technology and how to make an aircraft. That could only happen if we could bring all these people together.

I must tell you that when Dr.Arunachalam told Air Marshal Wollen who was the Chairman of HAL in those days that I should take over the project (and I was still in the rolls of HAL, I was not a DRDO man), Wollen said if you feel he can do the job then I am happy. I told Air Marshal Wollen that sending me alone is of no use, we have to create a team. He said you choose your team from HAL. I chose 230 people from HAL and said these many people will work. I also had about 30-40 people from NAL, some 15-20 people from DRDO. So, there were almost 300 people. I said that I need these people for the next twelve months to do project definition or system design of the aircraft. All credit must go to Air Marshal Wollen. He said yes. And in about one week’s time, he transferred all of them. And he said that all of them will report to me. It was not easy because a lot of people among them who had come from HAL were much older than me. They were ten-fifteen years older. You couldn’t deal with them in a traditional way. The only way you can deal with them is by energizing the team to think big and look for challenges. It took us almost two years to knit them into a single team. I think that was the biggest challenge. It was important to make each person realize the strength and the need of the other person because each had his own strengths.

Slowly everybody started aligning because they realized that the focus was on the aircraft and they were all professional people. There were a lot of new technologies, software, systems to develop. A stage was reached when the distinction between disciplines and organizations disappeared. The greatest contribution of the LCA project is that in a country like India where people say that two people cannot work together, we were 5000 engineers working with 300 industries, about 40 laboratories and 20 academic institutions. And we worked together successfully. And at a time when there were US sanctions and they were not willing to cooperate with us, this team made this aircraft. That was a great experience. Tough but great.

What, in your opinion, is the significance of the Tejas program? Why do you think it is important for the country?

When we started the Tejas program, we had already built a first generation fighter, the HF24. Tejas is a fourth plus generation fighter. We bridged the gap between first and fourth in one single project. And more than 80% of the technology of the LCA was developed in the country. In the most difficult time when there were sanctions from USA, we developed the most crucial controllers, hardware, software, tested, validated and made it error proof and we flew the aircraft. The most important thing is that we developed a lot of technologies. And these technologies have been used not just in LCA but in IJT and Saras and many other projects. And the companies that worked for LCA, they started working for many other programs all over the country. Today if you see engineering service industry in India, I think a large number of people manning the industry have worked on the LCA project. Because they worked on LCA, they got good work afterwards.

I think the biggest thing is that we created the ecosystem for aviation in India. Earlier there was no ecosystem for aviation in India. There was HAL and nobody else. Now it is HAL, 500 industries, 40-50 laboratories, 20 academic institutions and it is a big network. It is no longer one or two people working or one DRDO lab working or NAL working. It is a network. I thought this ecosystem that we have created through LCA is a great thing and it has given extra-ordinary confidence to the people who have worked on the project and the people who felt that this cannot be done but now they feel that if they could do LCA, they can do many other things. Today when I talk to anybody in the world, I can see that the respect for the country has increased by leaps and bounds. The point they make is that if you do a project like LCA which has the highest percentage of composites, which is the smallest fighter in the world, and was under such difficult conditions, it means that the country has inherent strength. And that is what gives confidence today not only to the participants but to the customers also. They may crib but at the end of the day they feel that here is a group that can do the job. If I go to the private industry today with some detailed design work, they will do it. All the avionics equipment and the MMR, we developed ourselves and it has been done by small scale industry. Some 40-50 of them worked for us and today they are making components for the rest of the world.

Can you describe in detail what was going through your mind on January 4, 2001 when the Technology Demonstrator of the Tejas was flown for the first time?

Frankly I had zero doubt in my mind about our ability to make this aircraft. The day I took over I didn’t see any reason to believe that it would not be a success. If somebody sitting in France, in UK or in Sweden can do it; then a country of one billion people with so much of talent can also do it. We just needed to put our act together. Of course, we had to do a lot of learning and the infrastructure was not there but I had zero doubt in my mind. I always thought that this is a doable project. It was a tough project but it was doable. When we started this program, maybe one in hundred people would have believed in us. As we went on and we were ready to fly, maybe fifty out of hundred began believing in us.

Wing Commander Kothiyal was our test pilot. He was a very professionally competent person. I know that he had never flown a prototype in his life. That too an unstable aircraft. So, I thought about how to give confidence to him. We did two or three things. One was to work on the control laws. We tested on a modified F16 aircraft in USA. One of the comments of the test pilot from the Pentagon was that the F16 flies better with LCA control laws. Even the aerodynamics of the aircraft was excellent. It gave a lot of confidence to our pilot. I never wanted to side step any testing. I felt that you must test until you give confidence to the airworthiness team and to the pilots. So the whole testing process went on for a year. The main thing in my mind was that here is an aircraft where the aerodynamics are good and the control laws are good. We must make it reliable. Reliable enough for it to fly very well. Of course when the aircraft flew, it was an extra-ordinary feeling. When the pilot came down, I asked him if there were any snags and he said ‘zero’. That is an extra-ordinary statement. It means we really perfected the aircraft to a level where there were no problems. It is very difficult to explain the kind of feeling that you have. It is like having a child. We were elated and happy that we could do this in spite of US sanctions and in spite of the report from one of the leading professional journals that said that India can never fly this aircraft because of US sanctions and lack of experience in making aircraft. And we were able to overcome such things. But we had a wonderful Defence Minister in George Fernandes. Hes a great Swadeshi man. One day we were working very late at night around 11 ‘o clock, testing the ground run of the aircraft. And suddenly some five-six cars came. It was the Defence Minister. He said, ‘As I was landing, I saw some activity going on. And I knew it must be your group.’ Such a gesture on his part energized the team, the designers, the people who had built the aircraft and the people who were testing it. Dr.Kalam was our boss for a long time. He was also an extra-ordinary person. Fortunately, I have had very good bosses. All of my bosses have supported us fully. We went through extra-ordinary problems. There used to be negative publicity about the project every alternate day. They used to say that we had crossed the time limits and the budget. It was tough but then our focus was not on those reports but on how to make it work. Fortunately, the team believed in themselves. Even if others didn’t believe, it didn’t matter. I think our big achievement was in making the team believe in themselves.

 Source:http://tejas.gov.in/featured_articles/dr_kota_harinarayana/page01.html

Shila Ghosh, 83 years hawker.

Shila Ghosh : A lady 83 years old who lives at pali in West Bengal. Every evening she comes from Pali to kolkata to sell the fries.The pedestrians out of respect buy the fries from her. After lung cancer took away her only son from her 5 years back,to make ends meet she works. Her nephew aged 30 works as a mover on meagre wages in pali. When asked if she has a problem in travelling,she weakly smile ans says “No,the bus gets me here and my health is not that bad”.

She earns 400 rupees per day but still it is less for her family of four.Circumstances could have easily forced her to beg but her dignity and respect is everything for her,she would work till the end of her life rather than beg on the streets. When we go on complaining she has chose to solve her problems on her own for as they say God helps them those who help themselves.

She is a determined women and deserves our respect...

Source: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=361717433890858&set=a.225027207559882.58583.215553305173939&type=1&ref=nf

Noshir Gowadia (unconfirmed) father of Chinese stealth technology

  First there were lot of news and rumors that China is probably developing a secret stealth bomber like B-2 Spirit and then come the rumors that China might be into development of stealth fighters in the class of F-22 Raptor. Then on December 2010, the world sees the first pictures of what seemed to be a Chinese stealth fighter and by January 2011 it was confirmed that China was indeed developing and testing stealth fighters. The world was confused as in how China a country which has been notorious for reverse engineering fighter planes of Russian origin could have indigenously developed a stealth fighter with record time and very little research & development. And now on February 2012 we have confirmed news that China is developing the second stealth fighter Shenyang J-16 code named Silent Flanker.

  Thanks to Noshir Sheriarji Gowadia who I refer to as the “Father of Chinese stealth technology” I believe China was able to develop such advanced technologies in such a short time. Noshir Gowadia was born in Mumbai, India emigrated to the United States and is now a naturalized U.S. citizen. He worked for Northrop from 1968 to 1986, as a design engineer, Gowadia was the principal designers of the B-2 Spirit stealth bomber, who conceptually designed the B-2 Bomber’s entire propulsion system and called himself the “father of the technology that protects the B-2 stealth bomber from heat-seeking missiles.” Besides the infrared suppression systems of B-2 Spirit it is unclear what other technologies of the bomber Gowadia had access to. In 1999, he founded N.S. Gowadia, Inc, which is described as providing “research and development, engineering services, technical consulting and any business related thereto.”

  In October 2005, Noshir Gowadia who worked for Northrop for 18 years was accused of disclosing the stealth bomber’s infrared-suppression secrets to representatives from eight foreign governments. He was charged with one count of willfully communicating national defense information to a person not entitled to receive it, which falls under federal espionage statutes. Several classified documents from the engineer’s days at Northrop and when he was a contract engineer in the 1990s at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico were found in his $ 4 Million house in Hawai. He confessed of sharing classified information “both verbally and in papers, computer presentations, letters and other methods, to establish the technological credibility with the potential customers for future business.”  Gowadia was also charged with helping to design stealth technology for Chinese missiles, and with money laundering.

  From 2003 to 2005 Noshir Gowadia made six trips to China, conspiring to conceal some of his visits by getting border agents to leave immigration stamps off his passport. The city of his interest was Chengdu, the same city home to the Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group and also the company that developed Chengdu J-20 stealth fighter. He’s also accused of attempting to sell classified stealth technology to the Swiss government and to businesses in Israel and Germany. On several other occasions, Gowadia provided “extensive amounts of classified information” to individuals in a third unspecified country while teaching a course on “low observable technology.” In 1999, Gowadia taught a course to foreigners in a second unspecified country, including information deemed “secret” that he had access to while working for Northrop and as a subcontractor for Los Alamos. In 2002, Gowadia faxed a proposal to develop infrared-suppression technology on military aircraft to a representative in an unspecified foreign country. The information included in the document was classified at the “top secret” level and made specific mention of the classified defense system in the United States.

  For years Nohsir Gowadia marketed himself as the “father of the technology that protects the B-2 stealth bomber from heat-seeking missiles.” Attracting many potential international customers, Gowadia “has marketed and disclosed United States military technology secrets related to the B-2 to foreign governments in order to ‘assist’ them in obtaining a higher level of military technology,” says FBI Special Agent Thatcher Mohajerin. Gowadia’s engineering contract business, N.S. Gowadia Inc., made nearly $750,000 between 1999 and 2003. But prosecutors believe Gowadia’s actual income was much higher. The investigation,  showed Gowadia “likely” maintains several offshore bank accounts. Assistant U.S. Attorney Ken Sorenson cited the sheer volume of discovery in the case, which includes information that has yet to be formally classified by the Air Force and a substantial amount of evidence from foreign countries involved.

  On January, 2011, he was sentenced to 32 years in prison, the same month Chengdu J-20 Chinese stealth fighter went public. Gowadia is currently incarcerated in the ADX Florence, with a release date of September 11, 2033. Thanks to him China now has three stealth projects in development.

Source : http://www.defenceaviation.com/2012/03/noshir-gowadia-father-of-chinese-stealth-technology.html

Cayley Aerospace Inc CEO European Engineer Bishnujee Singh named a top minority in science

    Cayley Aerospace Inc CEO Bishnujee Singh is recipient of Black Engineer of the Year's Science Spectrum Trail Blazer Award 2012 by Council of Engineering Deans, Lockheed Martin Corporation and Career Communication Group at BEYA STEM Conference on February 16,2012 at Philadelphia, USA.
The Trailblazers are outstanding Hispanic, Asian American, Native American, and Black professionals in the science arena whose leadership and innovative thinking on the job and in the community extend throughout and beyond their industry.

    
    The chosen Science Spectrum Trailblazer winners have all made a significant, quantifiable, personal impact on the industry and their communities. Many maintain a powerful position of influence regarding public policy for minorities in science. Trailblazers are men and women who are demonstrating outstanding performance that will shape the future course of science and technology. Trailblazers are science leaders whose stories of phenomenal success merit national recognition.

    Mr. Singh has numerous achievements and Honors till date from across the continents. Mr.Singh heads the Cayley Aerospace Inc in Lynnwood, Washington with subsidiary branches Cayley Engineering UK Limited in UK, Cayley Aerospace-China, Cayley Engineering Egypt Limited in Cairo, Egypt. Mr.Singh was born in Kolkata and has been Master of Science in Advanced Engineering from Sheffield Hallam in United Kingdom. Mr.Singh has been also Aeronautical Engineering Graduate from The Aeronautical Society of India.
Mr. Singh has been awarded with Modern Day Technology Leader Award in 2011 at BEYA meeting in Washington DC,USA. Mr.Singh has been also honored with Legacy Award on June 2011 at Florida, USA by MIRS, WOC, and BEYA Alumni Reunion meet.

    Cayley Aerospace Inc is Chartered Engineer Corporation in Pacific Northwest in Seattle and has been Accredited Aircraft Engineering and Certification Corporation. It's the first Chartered Engineering Corporation with team licensed with Engineering Council-UK and Chartered Professional Engineer team licensed with Engineers Australia. Cayley Aerospace Inc is accredited for Aircraft Appraisals and Valuation services.

 Source: Times of India, Mar 7, 2012.

JYOTHI REDDY- An Enlightening Inspiration……..

   Every successful story has a painful beginning and every painful beginning has a successful ending ..... Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam...

  An inspiring life story of a lady who was just an agricultural labour, worked for Rs. 5 per day until 1989 now became CEO of Keys software solutions in USA and making millions of money and serving the grass roots of Indian society. Is it awe striking and jaw dropping for you? but you need to believe and accept because you are all going to witness her, listen to her and even talk to her very soon. She is none other than Mrs. D. Anil Jyothi Reddy.

  Her success is not limited to her or her own family, the social service that she renders to the needy folk of society inspires many corporate giants to extend their hand with her to help the needy. The financial support that she renders is not a big issue when it is compared to her life story which has become a living example for millions to take her as inspiration and face the challenges with brave heart. Now many women take her as an example and coming out with courageous hearts to brake the limiting believes as well as glass ceiling which condense their actual growth according to their innate potential.

 

  Now here are some of the important phases in her much instigating story of her life:

  CHILDHOOD: Anila Jyothi Reddy was born in Narasimhula Gudem in Hanumakonda mandal, Warangal District as eldest of four children to a common peasant who has lost his employment during emergency. Her father was joined in Army but could not continue because of his attachment with the family. The military training that he had, the attitude that he developed, was given to her as inheritance. As it was very difficult for the family to meet the both the ends, he was forced to join Jyothi Reddy at BALASADAN, a government orphanage at Hanumakonda as a mother less child. 

  From 5th class to 10th class Jyothi Reddy stayed in orphanage by having solitary life away from home. She used to await if anyone would come and render some help. Particularly during winter season when she used to shiver like anything as her blankets were torn. May be this had a strong influence in her sub conscious and drive her to orphanages often and help the children with all that they require among all the love and feeling of belongingness. Even during summer she never used to go to her village, she used to stay in warden’s house and did all the house hold work for which she was fed.
The empathy that she shows on all the orphans is gained through her own bitter experiences. Recently she made a representation to the Government of India with all her allies to legislate the Rights of the Orphans. She strongly believes the words of Mother Teresa… “ The worst disease in the world is neither poverty nor other, lack of feeling of belongingness, being unwanted is the worst ”. Whenever she visits the Orphanages in India she prefers to spend more time with the orphans. Even they rejoice her company… “ she is more than mother to me’’ says Ranjitha, an orphan who is being sponsored by Jyothi. If you see many college students keep on blaming their environment and parents when they fail to satisfy their wants. A sincere advice to them to visit any orphanage at least once in a year. You better understand the real pain of the life and appreciate what you really have.
 

   MARRIAGE: Mrs Jyothi Reddy passed 10th class with good marks and she dreamed to continue her education. But her parents have contrary plans. At the age of just 16 they performed her marriage with Mr. SangiReddy because of their dire financial position. It is quiet common in rural India, many parents of girl child treat them as burden and try to remove the burden as soon as possible and perform marriage at an early stage. She was innocent and not knowing much about marital life.. time passed ..by the age of eighteen she became mother of two girls. It was very difficult for her to provide the basic needs of her children to feed them and to look after.

   EARLY CAREER: Strong determination to take care of her children made her to persuade her mother-in-law and husband to work in the agriculture to work for money. She worked for Rs. 5 per day as agriculture labour. Many other people who worked along with her on field were impressed by her attitude taught her the basics of hard work of peasants. She worked from 1986 to 89 on field till she got an interesting turn in 1989. Nehru Yuvak Kendra (NYK) started a night school in the village to teach the basic education for adults. As there was no graduate from the village and Jyothi was the only available option, they appointed her as the volunteer to educate the adults after giving some training. It fetched her Rupees 150 per month. She gathered all the co workers in the evenings to the Centre and taught them the basic education with unique play way methods. The Inspection authorities were very much impressed by the initiative and dedication of Jyothi as the volunteer and appointed her Mandal Prerak of Hanumakonda.

  ACADEMIC PURSUIT:   After being appointed as Mandal Prerak Jyothi had to visit all the centres of the Warangal district and realized the importance of education and without higher education she can not grow to next levels in life. She completed her graduation and post graduation Distance Mode from Ambedkar Open University. Even University authorities were impressed by her urge for education. She did B. Ed from Anna University and become a
government teacher. But it was not a cake walk for her. She had to cross over all obstacles at home as well as in society. Leaving her village and staying at her work place with her children and husband and balancing family and work and making money by doing all alternative sources as the salary was not sufficient etc,, these were all the different problems higher than the Everests for any rural Indian women. Patience, perseverance and commitment are the secrets of her energy behind this passionate effort.

  AMERICAN DREAM:   If the story stopped here there would be nothing much to inspire others. When Jyothi was working as inspector of schools, a relative of her who settled in America came to her place. Jyothi accompanied her during her stay and observed how much change had been taken in the life style of her America settled relative. The way her American relative was spending money for her daughters laid seeds of desires in her. She thought even she could give great future to her daughter if she would go to America and earn there. That time onwards she made up her mind and learnt computers and started saving money for her passport and visa. After series of early failures she could get a visiting visa and flew to America with a little amount but heart filled dreams.
 

  EARLY TRAILS IN AMERICA: As soon as she landed in America she realized it was not an easy task to settle in America. The people whom she believed would give her shelter and support turned off their faces. As money she brought from India was running off she joined as a salesperson in “ Movie Time ’’ a video shop in New Jersey. She stayed as paying guest in gujarathi family. While she was working iin Video Time a known Indian from Warangal saw her and recommended her name to his brother who owned a company called “ CSAMERICA” and she was appointed as recruiter after being trained. Later a well know company ICSA offered her a good job with handsome salary. Again she faced some problems as her visa was not approved and she went for H1 visa. She had to resign her job in ICSA and again had to work for $5 per hour in nominal jobs till she got her H1 visa.

  ENTREPRENEURSHIP: She went to Mexico for her VISA stamping. All the hardships of obtaining visa gave her an idea of establish her first entrepreneurship to assist the people to get their Visas. Thus Keys software solutions was initiated. It extended it services like developing software solutions and recruitment and other job providing areas. Jyothi came to America in May 2OOO and by September, 2001 she became entrepreneur. She made her cousin as partner as his partner and extended her business to become more profitable.

  FULFILMENT OF DREAMS: Her hard work, commitment and dedication fetched her the success she dreamed for. She made enough money to take care of her children and her near relatives. Her two daughters could finish higher education in America from prestigious universities and got married to well settled bridegrooms. Her dream to provide good living conditions to her daughters was fulfilled. But she thought it was not here mere responsibility. She has been always thankful to all the people who supported her. She never forgets the pains that she had throughout her life. So she decided to start helping all the needy. She wants to shed tears from the needy orphans who suffer from all inadequacies. She wants to give warmth heart to the pain tinted lives. These thoughts ushered her to take an inspiring turn to extend her service to the humanity.

  SERVING HUMANITY: It is not just a lady went to America and making some money.. and people started calling it as success. It is the attitude and humbleness of Jyothi Reddy which really made the people to notice her and started extending their service to fellow human kind. Jyothi Reddy never forgot her roots. In every visit to India she visits Orphanages, Old age homes and spends time with them, provides them financial assistance. She visits Women’s colleges and empowers them with her life experience. She stands for the orphans and represented to the government to make a legislation to safeguard their rights. She takes her success to heart and not to head. She helped many Indians to settle in America by providing initial shelter and guidance.

  FUTURE VISION: Jyothi Reddy has a vivid and constructive vision to extend her service to needy people. She wants to provide educational facilities and long term result oriented service activities. Everyone should accept the self responsibility and try to be courageous enough to face the challenges. Struggle in life strengthens the caliber of the people. She visits colleges and inspire girl students to take up the self responsibility to empower themselves. She strongly feels that every individual should stop blaming the environment and start helping themselves. God always sends his hidden helping hand through different unexpected sources. We need not to look back when we realize we are responsible for our lives. This is the message that she wants to share with everyone she meets.

  Napoleon Hill says “ Whatever human mind believes and conceives human mind can achieve” So just believe ..believe .. believe .. you can do it…. Have you goal clear and start working on it.

Elattuvalapil Sreedharan - A man who built the Calcutta Metro, Konkan Railway and the Delhi Metro.

   Ellatuvalapil Sreedharan is one of India's greatest civil engineers, the architect of the supposedly unbuildable Konkan Railway linking Mumbai and Mangalore, and, more recently, designer of the Delhi Metro system. 

    It was the early 1970s when Delhi's need for a mass rapid transit system for its increasing population was first felt. Many plans, studies and committees chased this thought in the following decades, leading to the formation of Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) in 1995. But things

really got moving only in 1997 when Elattuvalapil Sreedharan (79), a senior Railway engineer of repute, was asked to take over as DMRC's managing director. A job Sreedharan had first flatly refused. "I was already 65 years old and didn't really need a job," he says. With the Delhi Government persisting, Sreedharan finally relented but lay down his conditions before he joining as the Metro chief. "I demanded full independence, my own team and no interference if I had to deliver the project," he says. "They honoured my conditions."

 

  With a small office in Lodhi Road, a handpicked team of employees and a no-nonsense attitude, Sreedharan got on to the task, which in the next five years, not only made him a household name in Delhi, but a national icon. When DMRC opened its first corridor between Shahdara and Tis Hazari on December 25, 2002, it changed the way the city moved. Delhiites now had a new commuting etiquette, a sense of responsibility towards public property and higher expectations from civic agencies. 

 

The beginning 

    Born in a remote village in Palghat (Palakkad) district of Kerala, Sreedharan initially wanted to become a doctor. He eventually graduated from the Government Engineering College, Kakinada in April 1953 and started his career as a lecturer at the Kerala Polytechnic, Calicut. However, a year later he joined the elite Indian Railway Service of Engineers (IRSE). Sreedharan earned his spurs after restoring the Pamban Railway Bridge in just 46 days, after 125 spans of the bridge were washed away in a tidal wave in December 1963. He was also in-charge of investigation, planning and design of the first ever Metro in the country in Kolkata from 1970 to 1975.

   "Even as construction was going to start, Sreedharan opened a new design office. If he hadn't done that, Kolkata metro wouldn't have come up," says Professor SK Das, former IRSE and visiting faculty at the Institute of Engineering and Management, Kolkata. Das, who worked with Sreedharan for four years at Kolkata Metro, says he was a completely hands-on boss. "His approach towards work was that everything had to be done the way he wanted it. He, however, would never lose his temper during site inspections," he adds. "Even though I was a much junior officer but he would notice my work and guide me. He likes people who are serious and punctual," he says.

 

The taskmaster  

    When Sreedharan retired in June 1990, he was in charge of building the prestigious Konkan Railway project, which was an engineering challenge.After he took over as DMRC's MD, Sreedharan brought in a work culture that is not associated with public sector undertakings. "Decisions were quick and execution was quicker at DMRC. I came to DMRC on deputation and wasn't used to such a work culture," says a senior DMRC official who didn't wish to be named. "There were no peons at the DMRC office because files didn't move here, people did."

 

     Sreedharan is very good listener but the last word is always his, the senior official says, "He is an inspiring leader who leads by example. He is the reason that most of us who had come on deputation, chose not to go back to our parent departments despite the huge work pressure here." Anuj Dayal, chief PRO of DMRC recalls a visit to Mexico many years ago when some of his colleagues expected to let their hair down and just take it easy for a few days. "The MD, however, ensured that we were on time for not only meetings but also lunch and dinners and maintained official etiquette during our stay." he says. "It's due to his integrity and competence that Sreedharan has made the Delhi Metro what it is today," says M Ramachandran, former secretary, urban development ministry.

   Ramachandran, who was also the Chairman of DMRC for four years, feels that it was Sreedharan's personality, reputation and integrity that helped him push decisions without facing the usual bureaucratic red tape. "He already had a reputation when he joined as MD and that is why he perhaps enjoyed more powers than what another head of a public sector utility would," Ramachandran says. "However, it should also be kept in mind that the central government and other associated agencies also facilitated the project, such as making land available."

   After 14 years at the helm of DMRC, Sreedharan has finally hung his boots but he leaves behind a vast legacy. Delhi's expectation from the Metro are now higher than when Sreedharan joined DMRC and it remains to be seen how his successor carries the mantle. Dharan insists he does not hate any special skills to get the best out of people. "I always found that people cooperate if you work for a good cause," he says.

Sin-I Cheng, a pioneer in rocketry and aerodynamics, dies

    Sin-I Cheng, an emeritus professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at Princeton University who, in a career spanning five decades, made critical early advances in rocketry and helped develop modern computational approaches to aerodynamics, died Dec. 6 at his home in Princeton. He was 89.

Cheng, who earned his Ph.D. in aeronautical engineering from Princeton in 1952 and served on the University faculty for 41 years, developed an early expertise in the stability of liquid propellent rocket engines. He published a highly influential monograph in 1956 with his thesis adviser, Professor Luigi Crocco, describing the fluid dynamics and chemistry that could lead to overly rapid or explosive burning.

The theoretical understanding provided by this rigorous work was essential in paving the way for reliable rockets as the United States hurdled into the space race after the Sputnik launch of 1957, said Sau-Hai "Harvey" Lam, who was a graduate student at Princeton at the time and is now the Edwin S. Wilsey Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Emeritus.

"In the early days, rockets very frequently blew up on the test stands," Lam said. 

In subsequent years, Cheng made broad contributions to fluid dynamics, the field that includes understanding the flow of fast-moving gases, such as air over a wing. He published more than 100 journal articles and book chapters on subjects such as unsteady boundary layers, reacting gas dynamics, high-speed flows and turbulence. 

Working as a consultant to industry, Cheng helped develop early designs for intercontinental ballistic missiles. In 1973, Cheng was granted a patent on a method for reducing the sonic boom associated with airplanes that travel beyond the speed of sound.

As computers became more prevalent in research, Cheng was an early proponent of using them to simulate fluid flows to solve problems in aerodynamics and develop a deeper, mathematically based understanding of turbulence.

Cheng was born in Changzhou, China, and scored first in the nation in his college entrance exams, which earned him a full scholarship to a Chinese college of his choice. He earned a bachelor's degree in 1946 from the prestigious Jiao Tong University in Shanghai. In another nationwide competitive exam during his senior year, Cheng also scored exceptionally highly, winning him a government-sponsored scholarship to pursue advanced studies abroad, a rare opportunity during those war years. 

Cheng enrolled at the University of Michigan in 1948 and received his master's degree in aeronautical engineering the following year. He came to Princeton in 1949 as one of the first recipients of a highly competitive national fellowship, the Daniel and Florence Guggenheim Jet Propulsion Fellowship. At Princeton, he was one of the first Ph.D. candidates in a newly created department, then called the Department of Aeronautical Engineering. 

Cheng was appointed an instructor at Princeton in 1951, prior to earning his Ph.D., and was promoted after graduating in 1952 to research associate with the rank of assistant professor. He was awarded tenure in 1957 and promoted to the rank of full professor in 1960. Cheng retired from full-time teaching and research in 1992 but actively continued his work on the theoretical foundations of turbulence.

In recognition of his work, Cheng was named an honorary professor at Northwest (Xibei) University in Xian, China, and honorary director of the university's Thermophysics Institute. He also was a visiting professor and consultant to the National Cheng Kung University in Tainan, Taiwan. 

Following normalization of relations between the United States and China, Cheng frequently returned to China under Chinese government invitations to deliver lecture series at universities and research centers across the country. Under the auspices of the United Nations (UNESCO), he delivered an influential series of lectures in Dalian, China, in 1979 on computational aerodynamics.

Cheng also was a founding participant in a visiting scholars program that brought Chinese graduate students and young professors to study temporarily in the United States and which is credited with leading to structural improvements in the Chinese educational system.

Combining skepticism and enthusiasm

Ronald Probstein, who earned his Ph.D. in the department the same year as Cheng, said that as a student and later as a faculty member Cheng was both brilliantly quick and painstakingly careful in working through new ideas.

"He would really work to understand a new idea," said Probstein, now the Ford Professor of Engineering Emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "Where many of us would accept it and move on and use it, Sin couldn't do that. Unless he could understand it to the last T, he would just stay on it until he did."

"Years later, if we talked about a particular problem [we had solved] he was still skeptical about the approach we used," Probstein said. 

A former student of Cheng's, Sylvain Raynes, said that having Cheng as his thesis adviser was a formative experience in his career.

"The most important thing I took away was a skepticism toward what is," said Raynes, who earned his Ph.D. in 1986 and went on to a career in finance. "Whatever you read in a book may not be the whole unadulterated truth. So you must question — you must go into things in a deeper way than what is presented to you. That was Professor Cheng's own approach to everything."

Raynes noted that although he himself moved away from the field of fluid dynamics, he stayed in contact with Cheng, who worked until his death on his longtime dream of creating exact mathematical equations — as opposed to methods based on statistics — to describe turbulence. Raynes said this work was largely completed and he had helped Cheng secure a book contract before Cheng's death.

Lam, who had Cheng as an adviser when he first joined the department, recalled that Cheng's passion for his subject was infectious.

"The thing that I remember was his enthusiasm," Lam said. "He was the one who imparted not only the subject matter itself, but the beauty of the subject when he taught."

Another student at the time, William Sirignano, recalled particularly enjoying a two-semester graduate course Cheng taught on the subject of viscous fluids. "He would lose track of the clock and stay overtime, but I didn't have any class afterward, and he was just a very good lecturer," said Sirignano. "His enthusiasm was always contagious."

Sirignano also joined the faculty at Princeton and later became dean of engineering at the University of California-Irvine. Cheng was a supportive senior colleague, Sirignano recalled. "He made a younger colleague feel important."

Cheng is survived by his wife of 65 years, Jean, as well as his three surviving children Doreen, Andrew and Irene, seven grandchildren, and two great grandchildren.

Memorial contributions may be made to the American Cancer Society to further the advancement of cancer research.

Source : by Steven Schultz 

(http://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S32/50/07M26/index.xml?section=topstories#top)

Mr. Narayanaswamy

First Rank in State in Secondary School Examination
First Rank in University in Plus Two
First Rank in IIT Entrance Examination
First Rank in All India IIT Computer Science
First Rank in IAS Entrance Examination
First Rank in IAS Training Institute

On passing out from IIT Chennai Mr. Narayanaswamy was offered scholarship by the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology , USA .. He who came from a middle class family believed that he had a moral obligation to give something in return for the lakhs of rupees the government spent on him as an IIT student. He had the intelligence and conviction to realize that this money came also from the poorest of the poor - who pay up the excise duty on textiles when they buy cloth, who pay up customs, excise and sales tax on diesel when they travel in a bus, and in numerous other ways indirectly pay the government. So he decided to join IAS hoping he could do something for the people of this country. How many young men have the will power to resist such an offer from USA ? Narayanaswamy did never look at IAS as a black money spinner as his later life bears testimony to this fact.


After a decade of meritorious service in IAS, today, Narayanaswamy is being forced out of the IAS profession. Do you know why?

A real estate agent wanted to fill up a paddy field which is banned under law. An application came up before Narayanaswamy who was sub collector the, for an exemption from this rule for this plot of land. Upon visiting the site he found that the complaint from 60 poor families that they will face water logging due to the waste water from a nearby Government Medical College if this paddy field was filled up was correct. Narayanswamy came under intense political pressure but he did what was right - refused permission for filling up the paddy field. That was his first confrontation with politicians.

Soon after his marriage his father-in-law closed down a public road to build compound wall for his plot of land. People approached Narayanaswamy with complaint.

When talking with his own father-in-law did not help, he removed the obstructing wall with police help. The result, his marriage broke up.

As district Collector he raided the house of a liquor baron who had defaulted Rupees 11 crores payment to government and carried out revenue recovery. A Minister directly telephoned him and ordered to return the forfeited articles to the house of the liquor baron. Narayanswamy politely replied that it is difficult. The minister replied that Narayanaswamy will suffer.


In his district it was a practice to collect crores of rupees for earthen bunds meant for poor farmers, but which were never constructed. A bill for rupees 8 crores came up before Narayanaswamy. He inspected the bund. He found it very weak and said that he will pass the bill after the rainy season to ensure that the bund served the purpose. As expected the earthen bund was too weak to stand the rain and it disappeared in the rain. But he created a lot of enemies for saving 8 crores public money. The net result of all such unholy activities was that he was asked to go on leave by the government. Later such an illustrious officer was posted as "State Co-Ordinator, Quality Improvement Programme for Schools". This is what the politician will do to a honest officer with backbone - post him in the most powerless position to teach him a lesson. Since he found that nothing can be achieved for the people if he continued with the State Service he opted for central service. But that too was denied on some technical ground.


What will you do when you have a brilliant computer career anywhere in the world you choose with the backing of several advanced technical papers too published in international journals to your credit?


When you are powerless to do anything for the people, why should you waste your life as the Co-Ordinator for a Schools Programme?


Mr. Narayanaswamy is on the verge of leaving IAS to go to Paris to take up a well paid United Nations assignment. The politicians can laugh thinking another obstacle has been removed. But it is the helpless people of this country who will lose - not Narayanaswamy. But you have the power to support capable and honest bureaucra ts like Narayaswamy, G.R.Khairnar and Alphons Kannamthanam who have suffered a lot under self seeking politicians who rule us