The Best Days of My Life - 2, Childhood Stories of Some More Famous People

Vikram Sarabhai (1919 – 1971)

When India gained Independence in 1947, the country joined a list of former colonies that were left poorer and less developed than the imperialist nations of Europe. Struggling to build its economy and infrastructure from scratch, few Indians would have imagined their country’s exploration of space. But there was one Indian who did, and he worked to establish the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) in 1969, along with many other institutions working for the advancement of science and technology in India.

Vikram Sarabhai was born on August 12, 1919 into a wealthy family of industrialists in Ahmedabad. He was one of the eight children of Ambalal Sarabhai, who owned several textile mills, and Sarala Devi. In the traditional manner of well-off families in British India,
Vikram Sarabhai went to England for further studies after he had completed the intermediate Science examination from Gujarat College in Ahmedabad. He studied at St. John’s College at Cambridge University, completing his graduation in natural sciences in
1940. On his return to India, Sarabhai began research at the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore to carry out research on cosmic rays under the guidance of the Nobel Prize winning scientist C.V. Raman. Here, he published his first scientific paper in 1942. This was also the year he got married to Mrinalini, who was then a well-known classical dancer. He returned to Cambridge in 1945 to complete his PhD.

Coming back to newly Independent India in 1947, Vikram Sarabhai wanted to improve the facilities for the study of science. With the help of the charitable trusts his family managed, he established the Physical Research Laboratory (PRL) in Ahmedabad in November 1947. Not only was Vikram Sarabhai deeply dedicated to science, his keen interest in business and industry and vision for the development of India has stayed with us through many valuable institutions. He founded the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmedabad along with businessman Kasturbhai Lalbhai in December 1961.

With a vision for the cities and spaces of the future, he was instrumental in setting up the Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology University (CEPT University) in Ahmedabad in 1962, and the Nehru Foundation for Development (NFD) in 1965. In order to foster the scientific temper in students and the general public, he established the Vikram A. Sarabhai Community Science Centre (VASCSC). His biggest and most important contribution to India was the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) which he helped to establish in 1969. The first rocket launching station at Thumba on the coast of the Arabian Sea was set up by Vikram Sarabhai and Dr. Homi Bhabha, from where the inaugural flight took off on November 21, 1963. Apart from such stellar contributions, Vikram Sarabhai also set up the Operations Research Group (ORG), the first market research organization in India.

Vikram Sarabhai’s leadership qualities have been described with great affection and admiration by Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam in his autobiographical book ‘Wings of Fire’. He achieved so much in his lifetime because he was focused on getting the best out of all he
came in contact with, and setting the best example with his own quality of commitment.

Rather than being a controlling tyrant who expected only obedience, Vikram Sarabhai was a leader with a difference. As he expressed it himself, "There is no leader and there are no led. A leader, if one chooses to identify one, has to be a cultivator rather than a
manufacturer. He has to provide the soil and the overall climate and the environment in which the seed can grow. One wants permissive individuals who do not have a compelling need to reassure themselves that they are leaders."
Sarabhai was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1966. The Padma Vibhushan was awarded to him posthumously in 1972, after his sudden and untimely death on December 30, 1971.

A connoisseur of art and culture, who was interested in music, photography, archaeology, and fine arts, Vikram Sarabhai set up Darpana, an institution devoted to the performing arts with his wife Mrinalini. His daughter Mallika Sarabhai is a distinguished performing artiste and cultural activist and his son Kartikeya Sarabhai works in the area of science, technology and development.