VIKRAM SARABHAI : A LIFE BY AMRITA SHAH

The story of the father of India's space programme , the book amply highlights the many hats that Dr.Sarabhai wore in his illustrious career which was unfortunately cut short in its prime . The book is also an insightful look into the social stratum of the elite educated Parsees of British and post independence India , to which Dr . Sarabhai belonged .

The inspiration for this book having been provided to me by Dr. Kalam in Wings of Fire , I might have approached the book with a bit of positive bias towards Dr. Sarabhai , but at the end of the reading , if anything , his position only got more esteemed in my eyes . Dr. Sarabhai was a man of diverse traits , a man of science who believed in " the education of the senses first " ,  and married a prominent dancer; the man who then moved away from science into the realms of a then virtually non existent professional management role , laying the foundation of management education in India in the process ; and who ultimately left his biggest legacy as modern India's first and perhaps , till date , most prolific institution builder .

What brings alive Prof Sarabhai is the portrayal of the finer humanistic straits of his character , which are all captured in a glimpse in the cover photo of the book ; that innocuous smile , warm eyes and friendly posture are all further elaborated in the writing in the book . And that is what really endears Dr. Sarabhai to even someone like me , who unfortunately did never get the chance to be contemporaneous with him .

What's really commendable is the man management, maturity and awareness that Dr. Sarabhai possessed at a time when even in the the West , Marvin Bower was still building the profession up from scratch at McKinsey . It really speaks about that one single quality of Dr . Sarabhai which ultimately defines him to me , to this day ... farsightedness. Dr. Sarabhai was many things to many people but above all he was a VISIONARY , who dreamt of a better India and in his mild mannered style gave form to his vision in a very realistic manner .

If you like science , technology and institution building , and particularly if you want to know about the Genesis of  Indias space program , then this great book is definitely worth a read !! Hope you enjoy it !!